


The Dust

by NorthernGhost



Series: The Devil Lies in the West [1]
Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Elisabet lives (kind of), Post-Canon, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:19:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 151,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22143973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorthernGhost/pseuds/NorthernGhost
Summary: Anukai and Ikrie have managed to carve out lives for themselves in the unrelenting tundras of the Cut, but when a chance encounter takes them inside the long-dormant Thunder's Drum, they quickly discover that Anukai has a deeper connection to their world and a woman they've never met. Soon after leaving the Cut to explore this connection further, they quickly find themselves drawn into a larger, much more ancient conflict that takes all of them into the uncharted lands of the Forbidden West, where more than secrets and revelations are buried beneath the sands.
Relationships: Aloy/Talanah Khane Padish, Ikrie & Original Character
Series: The Devil Lies in the West [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593841
Comments: 116
Kudos: 32





	1. The Land of the Ice and Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome!
> 
> So to get this out of the way right off the bat, this series is technically a sequel to the [Living Systems](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1218735) series. While this therefore puts it in an AU from the original game, it is somewhat slight, all things considered. Still, it might make slightly more sense initially if you've read that. If you don't want to read almost 400,000 words for backstory, you may certainly dive right in, but don't say I didn't warn you.
> 
> So yeah, with that introduction...
> 
> This is the beginning of a brand new series set after the events of _Living Systems_ , although it's perhaps not strictly a direct sequel or continuation. This is going to be a very different animal, overall.
> 
> Things are going to be dark, a little weird, and maybe even a little bit creepy. If you're down for the ride, then come along.
> 
> If you've read/followed my fics before, you know the drill, but if you haven't, here's the low down: new chapter every Monday. Yes, weekly. Yes, _every_ Monday.
> 
> Anyhow, I suppose that does it for introductions for now. Enjoy, and feel free to let me know what you think as a comment!
> 
>  _The Devil Lies in the West_. Are you ready to go looking for him?

The bitter cold of the north in the winter was just bad enough to make anyone who experienced it forget what spring, sunlight, and warmth felt like. The snow quickly piled to well over a foot a month or two after the first frost coated the ground, and while the leaves and many creatures had left after the first several inches had accumulated, the heartiest remained throughout the coldest heart of the season.  


Those that did remain, however, had firmly set themselves at odds with each other. A herd of boar rooted through the snow outside their hidden den while the few bravest ventured slightly farther as a lookout for the weaker and younger, who made much easier targets. At the slightest tremble in the ground, they sent up a grunting alarm that prompted the entire group to retreat to the safety of cover.  


In their wake, three frost-covered machines stomped through the clearing, their long necks craning back and forth as their single blue eye scanned the ground before them, their searching always in motion. Once they reached the edge of the small clearing, they began to split off, each of them continuing their scans amongst the trees.  


Each of them stopped in turn to raise its head, a bright blue light shining before them over the ground in sweeping arcs for several moments before they returned to their normal prowling state. Once the small copse of trees had been scanned, they returned to the clearing and let out a mechanical chirping that signaled the small herd of taller machines with multiple canisters of bright green liquid on their backs to move in, spreading out amongst the trees, as well, and beginning to root at the ground, much like the boars had moments ago.  


As the three Watchers began to adopt a circling patrol pattern around their herd of Grazers, one of them suddenly came to a stop, its eye turning yellow as it whirled on a patch of bushes. It stared at them, watching the small dusting of snow that continued to flit in the soft breeze before adjusting course and slowly approaching, its head low to the ground.  


Once it was within only a foot or two of the bushes, however, a sharp blade suddenly shot from the branches, piercing the glass eye of the machine and the electronics behind it. Sparks shot from the destroyed eye for a moment before the sounds of its internal workings slowing filled the air and the machine crashed to its side, kicking up another small cloud of snow.  


Soon after the blade had retracted into the bushes, a fur-clad figure slunk from them, keeping low to the ground as they slid their way into a patch of tall grass, keeping their head low as they tried to minimize the amount of visible motion they exhibited. Within a minute or two, however, they had quickly closed the gap between their starting position and the herd of Grazers, coming to a stop in a particularly large patch of tall grass.  


The thick scarf across the figure’s face prevented the plumes of condensation from each breath from growing too large, but it was just enough to melt the frost that otherwise coated the rest of the scarf and the edge of their hood.  


They continued to watch the herd for several long moments, clenching and unclenching their hands slowly on top of their legs in an attempt to keep them from growing too stiff. A moment later, motion from their left caught their attention and they grew still, watching the nearby patch of tall grass also move and shake slightly. A moment later, a dark shape slipped across the opening between them, and the first figure adjusted their position as the similarly-hooded figure drew closer. When they finally came to a stop, they gently pat the first figure on the back. They nodded to each other in response before turning back to the herd before them.  


“Think the trainees are in place?”  


“Better be. Don’t want to be out here any longer than we have to.”  


Suddenly, the sound of a distant whistle, almost close enough to be mistaken for the sound of a bird, reached them and they quickly shifted positions, the first figure drawing a bow from over their shoulders while the second drew a sling from their belt.  


“Answers that.”  


Another moment or two passed in silence before a second whistle sounded. One of the Grazers lifted its head to look in the general direction of the sound, only for something to slam into one of the canisters on its back, knocking it free of the machine. The rest of the herd instantly went on alert as the first figure muttered a curse under their breath, drawing an arrow of their own.  


“Too soon…”  


Just then, another volley of arrows launched toward the machines, one hitting the same Grazer, but embedding itself in the armor plating just below the canisters, while two more hit the Grazer beside it. A third arrow sailed clear of all the machines, landing harmlessly in the snow several yards away.  


“Dammit…”  


The Grazers let out a bleating, electronic call before quickly turning and beginning to scramble in the opposite direction of the arrows.  


“We need that blaze.”  


With that, the two figures in hiding burst into motion, the one with the sling slipping to the right, moving alongside the Grazers as the one with the bow rushed toward the middle, giving chase to them. Several bombs from the sling flew through the air, slamming into two or three of the grazers and quickly dumping payloads of chillwater over them, freezing the already frostbitten armor even farther and causing them to stumble and fall as their joints seem to follow suit.  


The figure with the bow quickly loosed several arrows toward the downed machines, expertly picking canisters from their backs before glancing to their left. A group of three other, fur-clad figures had rushed forward as well, but were more clumsily taking aim at the downed machines.  


“They’re down, this is the best shot you’re going to get!”  


At the sound of their voice, one of the hunters accidentally loosed an arrow that sailed within only a yard of the first figure, who staggered backward in surprise. They glared back at the trainee who had nearly skewered them before letting out a growl of frustration and firing several more arrows in quick succession at the machines that were just getting to their feet, once again. Several more canisters of the green Blaze fell loose before the machines had regained their footing and taken off farther into the trees.  


The trainees began to follow before the lead figure’s barked command brought them to a halt.  


“Don’t give chase!”  


They all sheepishly glanced to each other before watching the lead figure stalk toward them, their bow clenched tightly at their side.  


“There’s no point in chasing a frightened herd, now,” they scolded, coming to a stop before them. “You’ve shown me that you can’t handle a docile one. This hunt is over.”  


“But—”  


“It. Is. Over.”  


The three trainees visibly deflated, their shoulders sagging, as they slung their bows over their shoulders.  


“Collect the canisters we managed to get and bring them back to the camp.”  


With that, the figure whirled on their heel and began to stalk away, not waiting to see if they had actually followed their directions. As they stomped through the deep snow, the second figure from earlier approached from the left, twirling their sling on one finger.  


“Well that was…”  


“Terrible.”  


“I was going to say ‘requiring improvement.’”  


“A slap to the side of the head with the flat side of a blade would go a long way.”  


“Koluk would perhaps be somewhat upset after the last time.”  


“He agreed with me in the end.”  


“You’re impossible, and he knows when to cut a loss.”  


“So he agreed.”  


The other figure heaved a heavy sigh, sliding the sling back into their belt, shaking their head.  


“Like I said: you’re impossible.”  


The two of them changed course, heading back through the clearing they had entered through, trudging through the deep snow until they came to a more well-worn trail, where the force of many more feet had packed the snow into a hardened surface that made walking much easier. They continued to discuss the training, the second figure trying to point out the optimistic approach to offering improvement to the trainees, while the first figure rebuked them with jabs at their mental acuity and reasons to abandon them on a cold mountainside in the middle of the night.  


Finally, when they reached the start of a rocky path leading to the top of a frozen mesa, their conversation had lightened to the point where they both traded laughter easily between them. Cresting the trail, they nodded to the two hunters on guard before turning in toward the wood, bone, and leather tents that formed the basis of the small settlement. Just as they went to pass one of the larger tents near the front, a loud voice stopped them in their tracks.  


“Anukai! Ikrie!”  


They glanced to each other before slowly approaching the opening, the first figure leaning their head in first.  


“Yes?”  


“You’re back already, which cannot be a good sign. Come in.”  


With a sigh, the figure stepped into the tent, followed soon after by their companion. The large man with a dark, sizeable beard streaked with hints of gray nearest his mouth wore a grim expression as the two figures approached.  


“Remove your hoods. We can speak face to face.”  


The first figure sighed, pulling her hood back and shaking her head slightly to free her tightly-braided mane of red hair before also casually pulling her scarf loose, shaking the pieces of frost on the floor. Her companion shed her hood, as well, revealing her short-cropped, dark hair, while removing her scarf revealed the smattering of freckles across her cheekbones.  


“You brought the new trainees for a hunt today. You left an hour ago.”  


“We did.”  


“And yet… you are back.”  


“We are.”  


The man sighed, shaking his head as he rubbed tiredly at his brow.  


“Anukai, I admire your talents and your spirits, however no new hunters will be able to join our ranks at this rate.”  


“Some current hunters probably shouldn’t be part of the ranks…” the redhead muttered, playing with the scarf in her hands.  


“That is enough.”  


She fell silent, glancing back up at the man as he rose to his feet with a heavy sigh.  


“I trust your judgement, Anukai, but at times… I do worry that personal pride may cloud it.”  


“I’m not worried any of those idiots are going to replace me!” she snapped, taking a step forward.  


“That is not what I was implying.”  


She looked as if she wanted to say something, but remained silent as the man approached her, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder.  


“You have been with our werak a year, and only a handful of hunters have passed your assessments.”  


“And have they not served well since?”  


“Yes, but—”  


“Then I don’t see the problem, Koluk.”  


The man continued to stare down at her for several long moments before heaving another heavy sigh, shaking his head.  


“Every day, I am more convinced you are born of the purest Banuk blood,” he said. “I have not met another as firm in their will as you in all my years.”  


“At least I don’t disappoint.”  


He laughed softly, shaking his head.  


“Did you manage to retrieve anything from the hunt?”  


“I knocked a few Blaze canisters loose. They should be back here soon.”  


“Well, I suppose it was not a complete loss.”  


He clapped her on the shoulder before letting his hand fall by his side.  


“And what was your opinion, Ikrie?”  


The dark-haired girl shrugged.  


“I’ve seen better.”  


Koluk nodded slowly before letting out yet another heavy sigh, beginning to turn back to his seat at the far end of the tent.  


“If Ikrie is not impressed, then truly today may be considered a failure on the trainees’ part. I will not hold you two further.”  


With that, the two girls dipped their heads before slipping out of the tent and turning to continue along their original path. Once they reached the end of the row of tents, they made their way toward a set of long, wooden tables in the center of an open area at the edge of the mesa where the small settlement stood. Three large fires blazed just past the tables, the smell of the smoke and cooking meat filling the air, along with their thick plumes of smoke.  


“That’s the—what—fifth time this month?”  


“It wouldn’t be so frequent if every new group wasn’t inept.”  


Ikrie sighed, lazily wrapping her scarf around her neck, but leaving most of it to hang before her.  


“I said…” she began in a sing-song tone.  


“I’m impossible, I know,” Anukai finished, smirking as she wrapped her scarf in a similar fashion.  


“Have been since we were children.”  


The redhead made unintelligible noises in mocking, which only prompted Ikrie to snicker as they joined the line of hunters waiting for the midday meal. Anukai sighed, running her hands over her hair and brushing some of the rogue flakes of snow that had settled from the blowing winds across the open ground of the mesa.  


“You know what, though?”  


The redhead raised her eyebrows as she turned to the other girl.  


“Something Koluk said,” Ikrie continued, bracing her hands on her hips as she brushed her foot over the snowy ground. “It’s been a year since we came here.”  


Anukai nodded slowly.  


“Hadn’t even realized it.”  


Ikrie nodded in response, finding a rock with her boot and giving it a kick, just to watch it skitter away.  


“Missing home?”  


Anukai shot her an admonishing look as Ikrie grinned.  


“You know as well as I do that wasn’t ‘home.’”  


“Two snow ghosts, just searching for somewhere else to exist,” the dark-haired girl sighed.  


Silence fell over them for several moments before the redhead let out a quiet laugh, shaking her head slowly.  


“Remember when we thought we were going to be our own werak, the Snow Ghosts?”  


“We aren’t?”  


Anukai stared back at her for several long moments, her hazel eyes searching the amber of the other girl’s before Ikrie laughed, shaking her head.  


“I’m kidding.”  


“Are you?”  


Ikrie sighed, shrugging as she stared down at the ground, again.  


“Partly.”  


Anukai frowned, folding her arms over her chest.  


“You think we don’t belong here, either?”  


“We’re doing well,” she shrugged, “just…”  


Anukai sighed, hanging her head slightly.  


“Us being here doesn’t negate who we are or what we’ve done.”  


“I know, just…” Ikrie sighed, folding her arms, as well, to mirror the redhead. “I just kind of feel like I won’t belong anywhere… except with the two of us.”  


The redhead offered her a small smile as Ikrie sighed.  


“Although, you being the unofficial second in command below Koluk is certainly useful…”  


“It’s only because I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”  


“And I will.”  


They both laughed as the redhead scanned the open ground of the settlement, her gaze lingering on a group of outlanders making their way toward the food line, as well. Their clothing was non-distinct, making it hard to place what tribe they may be from, but they seemed as reticent as many of the Banuk hunters around them.  


“Think those trainees are back, yet?”  


Anukai jumped in surprise at the sound of Ikrie’s voice, turning back to her as she shrugged.  


“I haven’t heard any yelling… or crying.”  


The dark haired girl rolled her eyes and shoved Anukai playfully.  


“Koluk is like you.”  


“In what way?” Ikrie scoffed.  


“He won’t make them feel as if they’re about to be banished and left for dead.”  


“I’ll… take that as a compliment?”  


Just then, the hints of commotion and shouting in the distance drew both girls’ attention, along with the rest of the line of hunters waiting for food. The sudden burst of motion and sound was coming from the group of outlanders, an argument seemingly haven broken out. A moment later, however, Anukai realized that it was much more than a simple argument and she quickly grew tense.  


Just as Koluk stepped from his tent, confusion clearly evident in his body language even from a distance, one of the outlanders drew something from his belt. The flash of metal in the sunlight immediately sent Anukai tearing across the open ground toward the scene. She watched as the outlander attempted to thrust the blade at the chieftain, however he was prepared and knocked it aside. He quickly grabbed the would-be assailant by the front of his clothes, dragging him closer before delivering a swift blow to the side of his head, immediately rendering the man unconscious as he went limp in Koluk’s grasp.  


The fight between the other Outlanders and the Banuk hunters that had travelled with them a moment ago continued, however, as Anukai closed the remaining distance, drawing her own hunting knife as she reached them. The nearest outlander spotting her approaching and quickly shoved the hunter before him back, delivering a kick to his right knee a moment later. As the Banuk crumpled, the unknown man whirled on the redhead, only to find her fist inches from his face.  


Her punch landed squarely on the bridge of his nose, sending him reeling backward as blood sprayed from his nostrils and over the lower half of his face. Anukai shook her hand against the pain that radiated from her knuckles, but quickly recovered as she tightened her hold on her knife and approached the man, once again.  


He attempted to swing his blade at her, however she was able to easily hop out of the way, his vision seemingly blurred by the blow he had suffered a moment ago. Despite his inability to clearly see her, it seemed, he continued to swing wildly, creating a small, rather impenetrable radius before him. With a frown, she quickly dropped into a crouch, sweeping her leg forward and knocking the man’s feet from beneath him.  


With a cry of surprise, he fell to the ground, his knife also flying from his hand and landing harmlessly in the snow several feet away. Taking her moment of opportunity, Anukai lunged forward, quickly bracing her knee on the man’s chest before swiping her blade across his throat. A red line immediately formed on his skin, quickly growing wider as his eyes widened. His hands shot to the wound, but it did little to actually quell the bleeding as he continued to gasp and gurgle.  


With her jaw set, Anukai quickly scrambled to her feet, leaving the man to his fate as she took inventory of the rest of the fight. Several other outlanders now lay on the ground, as well, however just as her gaze locked on one at the far side of the group, he seemed to get the upper hand on the Banuk he was grappling with and she saw him drive his hand into the hunter’s side.  


The Banuk let out a cry of pain, freezing temporarily, but it was just enough for the outlander to pull his hand away, only to run it across the hunter’s throat. Much like the outlander Anukai had felled a moment ago, the red line quickly began to grow as the vermilion blood began to run down the hunter’s throat. The outlander quickly shoved the dying Banuk away from him before glancing back at the rest of the fight, as well.  


Koluk had taken on another of the outlanders, and had seemingly stripped his weapon from him, driving the knife into the man’s skull to the hilt, a glare of pure fury on his face. Anukai started toward the nearest duo to her, flipping her hold on her knife so that the blade extended from the bottom. As she reached the next outlander, she found him too entangled with the other Banuk hunter to notice her approach until she reached over his shoulder, driving her knife into his neck, just above his collar bone.  


Before he could react to the initial attack, she drew it back toward her, blinking as the feeling of something warm and wet spraying onto her face and neck followed. When she removed the knife from the outlanders neck, he quickly fell to his knees, feebly reaching toward the gaping wound she had left behind before falling face first into the snow.  


The sound of several more cries of pain came from nearby and she glanced around to find that most of the outlanders had been felled, although another had seemingly overcome the Banuk he had engaged, leaping over the quickly stilling body of the hunter. As he joined the previous outlander Anukai had noticed earlier, they glanced back at the group for a moment, only to take off toward the trail out of the camp.  


“They’re escaping!”  


Anukai clenched her jaw as she quickly holstered her knife before drawing her bow from over her shoulders. She nocked an arrow a split-second later, drawing the string back as she focused on the images of the two fleeing outlanders. A moment later, she released the string, the world seeming to slow to a crawl for a moment as she watched the arrow sail through the air and embed itself in the slower outlander’s back, just beside his spine. The world immediately returned to a normal speed as the man staggered but tried to retain his footing, only for another arrow to quickly join the first and send him firmly to the ground.  


Her attention turned to the remaining escapee, only to find that he had already reached the trail leading down from the mesa. A second later, he had disappeared from view and she cursed loudly, lowering her bow.  


Despite her initial inclination to give chase, she instead forced herself to turn to Koluk, finding him standing before his tent, panting as he held the knife he had taken from another of his would-be assailants.  


“They have killed our brothers,” he growled, his eyes locking with Anukai’s, “and nearly killed me. This was a deliberate attack. I do not know who they are or why they came… but that last man must see punishment.”  


She nodded, immediately slinging her bow over her shoulders before glancing back to find Ikrie waiting a few yards away, her sling drawn but currently lowered. As the girls’ gazes met, they nodded and Ikrie holstered her sling, quickly approaching Anukai.  


“Find him, and make sure his song is silenced,” Koluk growled, nodding to the two girls.  


“The ice will keep it.”  


With that, the girls tore off toward the trail, quickly reaching it and taking the turn onto the narrow, treacherous path as quickly as they could. Immediately, Anukai scanned for the outlander, but he had already managed to reach the bottom of the rocky trail and had even managed to race a fair distance from it, already.  


“He’s too far to hit from here,” Anukai panted.  


“Let’s close the gap, then.”  


The two girls took off down the trail, quickly reaching the bottom before continuing the chase along the worn path through the snow, deeper into the valley. Within only a few moments, however, they had lost sight of the outlander amidst the trees and snow, and they came to a stop, both of them whirling in place, searching for any signs of where the man had fled.  


“He can’t have just disappeared,” Anukai growled, her hands clenching tightly at her sides.  


Just then, Ikrie hit her on the shoulder and pointed toward something on the side of the hill to her right. The redhead followed her gesture to find what appeared to be a set of tracks in the deeper snow, leading up and over the crest of the incline. They glanced to each other briefly, nodding, before charging into the snow after the tracks. The thought that they may not have been from the assailant crossed Anukai’s mind, but she quickly pushed it aside as she scrambled to the top of the small hill, scanning the scenery before them.  


The hint of motion amidst the otherwise still landscape immediately drew her attention, and Ikrie’s nudge against her shoulder told her that she had noticed it, as well.  


“Where is he heading?”  


Anukai glanced ahead of the man, tracing what seemed to be his path through the snow-laden valley. Quickly, her eyes were drawn to the largest, most notable feature in the distance.  


“Thunder’s Drum.”  


“What? Why?”  


Without answering, Anukai instead gave chase, tearing as fast as she dared through the deep snow, taking care not to move too quickly and trip, instead. By the time she reached the bottom of the other side of the hill, the assailant was easily visible across the open ground of the valley, but still maintaining a good distance between himself and the girls.  


Anukai spared a glance back to find Ikrie just reaching her, before turning and charging into the open after the assailant, once again. They actually began to gain on the man, the years of endurance built up from navigating the thick snow clearly outmatching the mysterious man’s, but just as Anukai was drawing close enough that she thought he may be within an arrow’s reach, the sound of a loud, mechanical roar caused her to skid to a halt, glancing around wildly before diving to her right behind a rather large, snow-laden bush. A moment later, Ikrie slid in beside her, panting the sprint, but otherwise not saying a word or making any unnecessary sounds.  


A moment later, the ground beneath them began to vibrate and they slid closer to the cover of the bush, neither of them paying much attention as several branches unloaded their entire weight in snow on their heads. The rumbling in the ground grew stronger until the sounds of mechanical joints twisting and whirring reached their ears. Both girls took deep breaths before holding them as best they could, remaining almost entirely still.  


The heavy footsteps came to a stop just on the other side of the bush, followed soon after by what sounded like a low growling. Anukai could hear her heart pounding in her ears as her lungs burned from the strain of taking few to no breaths. Finally, after several long moments of stillness and near total silence, the heavy footsteps resumed, moving past the bush and continuing in a path perpendicular to the one they had been following previously.  


After the actual sounds of the mechanical footsteps had mostly faded, and the only hints were the slight, telltale vibrations in the ground, once again, the two girls let out heavy sighs, breathing deeply but slowly for several seconds before Anukai turned back to face, Ikrie.  


“Close,” she sighed.  


The dark-haired girl nodded.  


“How did one of those come out of nowhere?”  


Anukai shrugged.  


“We weren’t paying attention.”  


Ikrie didn’t look particularly satisfied by that answer, but remained silent, shifting her crouched position so that she rested on one knee.  


“Didn’t chase him, either.”  


“Means he’s probably long gone. He’s going to keep leaving tracks, though.”  


With one more heavy sigh, Anukai brushed what snow remained atop her hair off before lifting her hood back into place and rising to a standing position. Ikrie followed suit, flipping her hood up and following Anukai around the bush and into the open, once again. The slowly retreating image of the large, lumbering machine in the distance drew their attentions for a moment or two before they instead turned back to the much smaller tracks left by the assailant.  


As they began to fall in line with them, moving steadily toward the large mountain range ahead of them, Ikrie cleared her throat.  


“Why Thunder’s Drum, you think?”  


Anukai shrugged.  


“It’s the only big landmark out here. It’s been silent for years, too.”  


“It’s a forbidden site, though… where all of those Daemonic machines were born.”  


Anukai simply shrugged as Ikrie rolled her eyes.  


“And of course you’ve wanted to get inside to see for yourself for years.”  


A smirk twisted the redhead’s lips as she glanced at the girl beside her.  


“Anukai, this isn’t just a story,” Ikrie sighed. “Actual, dangerous machines came from here. You've heard all about it.”  


“Exactly: stories.”  


Ikrie’s jaw worked tensely for a moment or two before she sighed, yet again, shaking her head.  


“You really are impossible.”  


“And yet you’re still walking beside me.”  


“Because someone has to make sure you get out of these situations alive.”  


Their trek across the valley floor passed without further incidents or run-ins with hostile machines until they found themselves at the foot of the large, oddly square rock formation that constituted Thunder’s Drum, both girls craning their necks to look up toward its top. A moment later, Anukai began to step forward, following the assailant’s trail toward what appeared to be a narrow path leading farther into the mountains, but Ikrie’s hand suddenly shot out and gripped her arm, stopping her.  


“Somethings feels wrong, here.”  


“Trap?”  


“No, just… _wrong_.”  


Anukai let out a frustrated huff before setting off after the tracks, once again, dragging Ikrie after her, now. The other girl eventually let go, and when Anukai glanced back, she found her falling in step beside her. She didn’t offer any other arguments or protests, however, and the girls continued in silence on the path into the mountains. The narrow, twisting path along the steep rock faces continued for a fair distance and elevation before suddenly coming to a stop at a sheer cliff that towered easily thirty or forty feet above their heads.  


“Must have climbed.”  


“Why?”  


“What do you mean?”  


“Why go through all of this trouble to get here?” Ikrie asked, glancing over at the redhead. “It was a weird feeling before, but now it’s starting to feel more like a trap.”  


Anukai paused for a moment, her jaw working tensely in silence before she took a deep breath in through her nose, closing her eyes for a moment.  


“I think we should press on,” she began. “He killed a hunter, a member of the werak—”  


“You just want to see what’s inside Thunder’s Drum.”  


“And so what if I do?”  


“It’s—”  


“Don’t try to tell me it’s forbidden, again.”  


“But it is!”  


“And since when has something someone’s said ever stopped us before?”  


“It’s not—I’m just—you’re—” Ikrie spluttered before throwing her arms into the air dejectedly.  


“Listen,” Anukai said, her tone suddenly much softer as she stepped forward and grabbed Ikrie’s upper arms, holding her still, “we can handle this. We’ve handled everything the world’s thrown at us so far, and sometimes we barely came out alive, but we have so far.”  


“What if our luck runs out?” Ikrie replied, her voice also much softer.  


“Who said it was luck, in the first place?”  


Ikrie bit her lower lip as Anukai shook her gently.  


“Please don’t make me go in there alone.”  


The dark-haired girl gave her a defeated expression as Anukai offered a grin in return.  


“That’s not fair,” Ikrie sighed.  


“So that’s a yes?”  


The dark-haired girl let out an annoyed huff even as she nodded. Anukai’s expression turned into a full grin as she squeezed Ikrie’s arms one last time before turning back to the cliff face, scanning it for the handholds the assailant had used to scale it. Once she had plotted a rough path in her mind, she quickly set about making her way up the cold, hard rock wall. The climb took relatively little time to reach the top, at which point she paused, scanning over the lip of the rock face to make sure the assailant hadn’t indeed remained behind, waiting for a chance to ambush them, however all she found was more open ground and what appeared to be hints of tracks leading away from the cliff’s edge.  


With a grunt of exertion, she dragged herself over the lip before turning back to offer a hand to Ikrie, who took it and used the leverage to help pull herself up and over, as well. Once they were both standing away from the sheer drop off, they glanced up toward the imposing rock formation of Thunder’s Drum beside them, once again.  


“Think we’ll have to go all the way to the top?”  


Anukai shrugged.  


“I really hope not.”  


Despite the lower amount of snow on the rocky surface where they had found themselves, the assailant’s tracks were still easily visible, and they set out after them, moving at a brisk walking pace to make sure they didn’t accidentally run right off the edge of some other cliff face. Their trek continued for what felt like quite a while, Anukai noting how low the sun had sunk in the sky, before their rough, rocky path gave way to a wider, more snow-laden trail, stretching up the slope to their left and curving back down past the portion of the rock formation they had just traversed to their right. The assailant’s tracks continued to the left, so with a nod from the redhead, they continued after them.  


The path continued to wind and twist up the mountainside for some time until they rounded one last bend and came to a halt. They had found themselves at another sheer wall, with the tracks leading directly to it, however there was no possible way the assailant had scaled this surface. The entire rock face was coated in a thick layer of ice that sported no obvious signs of ways it could be traversed.  


“Where did he go from here?” Anukai muttered, tentatively walking forward even as one hand hovered at her bowstring, ready to react in defense at a moment’s notice.  


“Almost seems like he… disappeared.”  


Anukai glanced back with an admonishing look on her face.  


“He’s not an actual snow ghost, Ikrie.”  


“I’m just saying what I see, okay?”  


The redhead rolled her eyes, but a smirk had begun to twist at her lips.  


“Then we’ll look harder.”  


As Anukai reached the foot of the rock face, exactly where the assailant’s tracks led, she came to a stop, staring at the surface directly before her. A section of the rock wall seemed different than the rest around it, the mysterious, smooth surface a grey color in the shape of a nearly perfect rectangle, although the top two edges were rounded.  


“What is that?” Ikrie muttered, coming to a stop beside her.  


“Looks like… a door.”  


“A door? Out here?”  


Anukai stepped forward, coming to a stop just before the strange surface, tentatively holding one hand out toward it. Just as her fingers came within inches of touching it, Ikrie’s hand on her shoulder caused her to jump, jerking her arm back.  


“You’re just going to—” Ikrie began, but stopped at the sound of a heavy, metallic sliding from behind Anukai.  


She quickly turned back to the strange surface, only to find that it had seemingly disappeared, revealing a darkened space where it had once stood.  


“That… just opened… right?” Anukai breathed.  


Ikrie nodded slowly, her gaze still rooted on the strange opening. With a deep breath, the redhead stepped forward, approaching the dark hold before coming to a stop in the center of it. The space beyond was incredibly dark, prompting her to stop until her eyes had adjusted from the blinding whiteness of the snow outside.  


“What… is this place?”  


She slowly stepped farther into the opening, despite the sharp intake of breath from Ikrie behind her. As she glanced around at the cavernous space, she slowly began to turn in place. The walls stretched well overhead, seemingly even by a hundred feet or so, however the darkness made it difficult to truly discern. Every surface had an unnatural flatness to it, although rock and ice formations here and there provided small contrasts here and there. A single, rather wide passageway led through the center of the space, the outlines of footprints just barely visible in the light dusting of snow that coated the ground, prompting Anukai to follow it, but she forced herself to pause and glance back toward the opening for Ikrie.  


The other girl stepped into the space as well, glancing around much like the redhead had, however once she had turned in a complete circle, she reached out toward the nearest wall, pressing her hand against it.  


“It’s all… metal.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she stepped over to Ikrie, placing her hand on the wall, as well. To her surprise, she found that it had the same feeling as the metal of the machines from the valley outside.  


“So… this must be…”  


“A ruin of the Metal World,” Anukai breathed.  


“Thunder’s Drum… was built by humans?”  


Just then, the opening they had passed through suddenly slid closed with a hiss and the sound of scraping metal. The two girls jumped, but otherwise remained in place, simply staring at where the bright outline had been a moment ago. Finally, after several long moments, they turned back to each other, each of them wearing pale, slightly dumbfounded expressions.  


“Guess the only way to go is onward,” Anukai breathed.  


“I still don’t like any of this.”  


The redhead sighed, seemingly breaking out of her trance first as she ran one hand back over her hair, pulling her hood back, as she did.  


“Tell me you don’t want to find out more about this place, truly,” she said.  


Ikrie bit her lower lip for several moments before sighing, removing her hood, as well.  


“I’m already in here with you, so…” she replied with a shrug.  


Anukai nodded resolutely, turning away from the wall to scan the rest of the dark space, once again.  


“He continued farther inside, so we do, too.”  


Anukai gave one last glance toward Ikrie, nodding in the direction the tracks led, prompting the dark-haired girl to let out a heavy sigh, slowly shaking her head.  


“I have a very bad feeling about all of this…”  


Despite her mutterings, the two girls continued onward, sticking to the path blazed by the assailant, while eying every new wall and construction they came across. Finally, the tracks led to another rectangular surface, and they came to a stop, glancing around. The tracks clearly led through it, as they had from the exterior, however there was no noticeable way to actually move it aside.  


“How did you make the other one move?” Ikrie asked.  


“I don’t know,” Anukai sighed. “I was just about to touch it and you surprised me.”  


“So I just need to scare you to get this to open?”  


The redhead gave her an admonishing look as the other girl smirked. With a sigh, Anukai stepped closer to the shape in the wall, holding her hands just over its surface and running them back and forth and in every direction she could, but to no avail. Finally, with a sigh, Anukai threw her hands into the air before waving them violently over the portal. Just then, a strange beep sounded and the section of wall slid aside, just as the previous one had.  


The redhead jumped in surprise, staring at the now open hole in the wall for a moment or two before turning back to Ikrie, but she seemed as at a loss for an explanation as her. With a deep breath, Anukai stepped forward, leading the way through the opening. Almost as soon as she stepped into the space beyond, she nearly tripped over something and jumped in surprise, glancing down, only to leap a foot or two away, drawing her bow and nocking an arrow to it.  


“Hold up!” she hissed, her eyes locked on the form of the machine on the ground before her.  


After several long moments, however, it was quite clear it wasn’t going to move, and she slowly lowered her bow, taking a step or two closer before nudging its tail with her foot. Still, the machine remained where it was, silent and dark, like the rest of the strange place.  


“Never mind, it’s clear.”  


Ikrie stepped through the opening, glancing down at the form, herself.  


“A dead Watcher…” she muttered. “Think he killed it?”  


A frown tugged at Anukai’s lips as she shook her head, shoving her arrow back in her quiver and slinging the bow over her head.  


“I don’t think so,” she replied. “There’s no recent signs of a scuffle, otherwise.”  


Ikrie nodded, glancing around the downed machine, as well.  


“Leftover from the Daemonic machines?”  


“Could be.”  


Ikrie still gave the Watcher a good berth as she slipped around it, joining Anukai farther into the new space. The ceiling was still incredibly tall, however there now appeared to be two levels of floor, a set of metal stairs leading up to the second story several yards ahead of them. More dark shapes littered the ground ahead, but as they pressed onward, it was clear none of them were about to leap up and attack.  


“So many Watchers…” Anukai muttered.  


“They do look destroyed,” Ikrie chimed in, “but like you said before… no recent signs of a fight.”  


“So… an old one, maybe?”  


The girls exchanged uneasy glances, but pressed onward up the set of stairs. When they came to the next floor, a rather large, dark shape appeared ahead of them, and they quickly ducked down, racing toward a stack of what appeared to be metal boxes and taking cover behind it. After a moment or two, Anukai took a deep breath before leaning around the edge of the stack, squinting through the darkness toward the shape they had seen before.  


Finally, she let out a curious “huh” sound before turning back to Ikrie.  


“It’s a Bellowback,” she whispered.  


“Alive?”  


She shook her head.  


“Dead—like the Watchers.”  


A shiver ran through Ikrie’s body as the redhead raised her eyebrows.  


“I don’t like this place,” the dark-haired girl grumbled.  


“It’s not what I was expecting but… we haven’t run into a real, live threat…”  


“Yet.”  


Anukai’s lips pulled into a thin line.  


“Well, we knew at least one would be here when we entered.”  


Ikrie mimicked her expression for a moment before the sound of a loud clattering ahead instantly drew their attentions, each girl leaning around opposite sides of the boxes to try to glimpse what had caused the sound, but nothing immediately presented itself as the culprit. As if on the queue of some unspoken message, they each slipped around the edge of their hiding place, drawing their weapons and moving forward carefully in low crouches.  


They quickly reached what appeared to be a sharp turn in the room, just before the carcass of the large machine, and came to a stop against the wall to their left, Ikrie in the lead. After a moment or two, she took a deep breath before leaning one eye around the corner, scanning the scene ahead for several moments before pulling back and turning to the other girl.  


“Can’t see anything,” she whispered.  


Anukai frowned, but nodded.  


“Let’s press on, but… quietly.”  


Ikrie didn’t look convinced, but nodded. Anukai took the lead around the corner, moving in a slightly hunched position somewhere between crouching and standing, her eyes sweeping over the darkened space. Another metal wall rose ahead of them, another of the strange portals set into it, although just before this one, she noted what appeared to be a stack of strange metal cylinders that lay haphazardly on the floor.  


As her gaze passed over them, it quickly locked onto the footprints beside them, specifically tracing how they led from near her to the portal. Her eyes widened slightly as she quickened her pace, but still took care to roll her steps to try to keep as quiet as possible. When she reached the portal, she came to a stop, listening intently for any potential sounds that may come through it, but she could only hear her own heartbeat and the sound of Ikrie’s footsteps quickly approaching from behind her.  


“He knocked these over.”  


Anukai glanced back, noting that Ikrie was glancing down at the metal cylinders.  


“Seems like it.”  


The other girl looked up toward the portal ahead of them and nodded toward it.  


“He could be right through there.”  


Anukai nodded, turning back to it for a moment before taking a deep breath.  


“Well, only one way to find out…”  


With that, she carefully approached the portal, holding one hand out toward it before waving as she had the last time. After several long seconds of trying the frantic motions, it seemed as if nothing would happen, however just as she was about to give up, the same strange beeping sounded and the section of metal slid aside.  


Anukai started in surprise, but quickly recovered as she gripped her bow and nocked arrow with both hands, again, dropping into a crouch before slowly approaching the new opening. As she entered the new space, motion ahead drew her attention and she slowed her pace even more. In addition to the motion, the sounds of what appeared to be muttering echoed about the strange, smaller room; it was unmistakably a man’s voice.  


The redhead silently slipped behind what appeared to be a metal table before lifting her head just enough to see over the top of it. A figure stood before another of the strange, metal portals across the space, waving his hand in the air over its center, each attempt at the motion growing more frantic.  


“Come on… come on…”  


Anukai’s jaw clenched tightly as she adjusted her grip on her bow ever so slightly. Finally, with a slow, deep breath, she rose from her hiding spot, drawing the bowstring back slowly. Just as she reached the farthest point, the man suddenly paused his motions, standing completely still. The redhead held her breath for a moment or two, carefully aiming the arrowhead as best she could in the low light of the room.  


Just as the figure began to turn from the metal portal, Anukai loosed her arrow. Almost immediately after it had left her hands, the sound of a heavy thud and a cry of pain sounded from across the space, the form of the man staggering and falling against the far wall. The redhead quickly drew another arrow, nocking it to her bowstring, before moving around the metal table and drawing closer to the form of the assailant.  


As she drew within a few yards, she noted that he had sunk to a kneeling position just before the portal, an arrow clearly protruding from the back of his right shoulder blade. He lifted his head to look at her as she drew closer, but she noted how his body swayed and his motions had a listless quality to them.  


“You…” he rasped, seemingly looking her up and down. “I know you.”  


“You attacked my werak,” Anukai growled, keeping her arrow trained on him. “You tried to kill our chieftain, and you did kill some of our hunters.”  


The man began to shake his head, hanging it forward slightly as he did, too.  


“No… not from there.”  


Confusion creased the redhead’s face as she felt her palms growing slick with a cold sweat.  


“What do you mean?” she spat.  


“You… you’re that fire-haired warrior priestess…”  


Anukai paused for a moment, confusion creasing her brow.  


“I’m no shaman,” she said.  


“No… no shaman…” he muttered, coughing. “Not… not a Banuk.”  


“I am,” she shot back, her grip redoubling on her bow, “and I take it you know how we respond to those who attack us?”  


“No… you were… Nora…”  


Anukai’s mouth opened to utter another retort, but she paused, staring down at the man for several moments before slowly closing it.  


“You… you’re… younger… ‘an I thought.”  


“That’s enough!” Anukai barked, drawing her bow tightly, once again. “You can speak all the madness you want, but it won’t change your fate.”  


The man finally lifted his head, looking Anukai in the eye for the first time, a strange vacancy to his expression as his eyes stared back into hers.  


“I knew mine… the moment I set foot in that settlement…”  


“So why do it? Why were you trying to kill Koluk?”  


The man offered a strangely casual shrug as he blinked, his eyes returning to a normal alertness for the first time since the confrontation had started.  


“Why not?”  


Anukai’s jaw clenched tightly for a moment before she carefully lined up the aim of her arrowhead and released the string in her fingers. The ammunition quickly shot forward, slamming into the man’s forehead with enough force to jerk his head backward and send him toppling to the ground, the sound of cracking wood from beneath him echoing about the dark space. After several long moments of stillness and silence, Anukai let out a heavy sigh, relaxing her grip on her bow and slinging it over her shoulders.  


“He seemed driven mad.”  


She jumped at the sound of Ikrie’s voice beside her, but quickly glanced over and nodded.  


“Certainly seemed that way.”  


“Saying he recognized you and… all of that.”  


Anukai frowned, stepping closer to the man’s body and kicking at one of his boots, even while staring at the arrowhead firmly embedded into his skull.  


“I suppose that’s one way to—”  


Suddenly, a strange synthetic chime sounded, echoing about the metal walls of the space, although it wasn’t quite the same as the ones that had sounded before the portals opened.  


“Hold for identiscan.”  


Anukai jumped at the sound of the strange voice, whirling in place to look for its source, but no other figures had appeared in the room other than Ikrie, the dead body, and herself. As she was looking back at the other girl, she noticed how her eyes had widened and she took a slow step backward.  


Confusion creased the redhead’s features as she began to turn around, once again, searching for what had caused the other girl’s reaction. As she did, she suddenly found a wide, red beam extending from a small, glowing point just above the metal portal the assailant had been trying to open moments ago.  


She let out a cry of surprise, attempting to jump backward even as it rose over her waist, already. Anukai quickly ran her hands over her clothing, feeling for any signs of blood or other injuries, but she felt no new pain or wet, warm spots forming on her clothing. A moment later, the red beam had risen above her head, only to vanish a moment later.  


“Identity data at minimum, however match has been found. Welcome, Doctor Elisabet Sobeck.”  


Immediately after the strange voice had spoken, the portal slid open, revealing yet another darkened space beyond it, but Anukai only spared it a glance before turning to look back Ikrie.  


“What… did that voice just call you?”  


The redhead slowly began to shake her head.  


“I think… it’s a name.”  


Silence fell over the room and the two girls for several long seconds, once again, before Ikrie spoke, finally breaking the painfully still tension that hung over their heads.  


"Whose name?"


	2. When the Light Speaks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, and happy Monday.
> 
> I'm glad to see the first part of this new adventure already generated some attention and intrigue, so let's keep on with it.
> 
> Side note: will I keep uploading such bulky chapters? Possibly. I want to do this story justice, but I also don't want to drag this out over the course of a year, potentially, either. If I can keep up the pace that I've set so far, then all's good. If not... well, we'll see.
> 
> Anyhoo, here's Chapter Two.

Silence fell over the room and the two girls for several long seconds, once again, before Ikrie spoke, finally breaking the painfully still tension that hung over their heads.  


“Whose name?”  


Anukai glanced back at her for a moment, her jaw working slowly as she chewed the inside of her cheek. Finally, she turned back to the dead body before her, the form lifeless and still, but she could clearly hear his voice echoing in her ears.  


“The red-haired warrior priestess…” she muttered.  


“What was that?”  


“Nothing, just… ramblings of a dead man,” Anukai sighed, looking up from the body to the still-open portal before her. “Come on.”  


“Wait, hold on!”  


Hurried footsteps sounded behind her before a hand firmly gripped her right arm, spinning her in place to face Ikrie.  


“What are you doing?!”  


“We came this far,” Anukai said, gesturing to the opening with her free arm. “Why not farther?”  


“We came into this place for a purpose,” the dark-haired girl hissed, “and now that’s done. We should leave.”  


Anukai scowled at her as she suddenly twisted her arm free of the other girl’s grasp.  


“You just saw—whatever that was—speak as if it recognized me,” she began, her chest heaving, “and you want to turn around and leave?”  


“You saw the light from its eye.”  


“What about it?”  


“Red, Anukai…”  


The redhead raised her eyebrows as Ikrie clearly fought to keep her voice under control.  


“There’s no trace of the Blue Light here.”  


Anukai’s jaw worked tensely for several moments as her eyes clouded over, staring unfocused at the ground between them before she blinked, the clarity returning instantly.  


“You know what else is red?”  


Confusion creased Ikrie’s face before Anukai grabbed the end of her braid, waving it over her shoulder.  


“Me.”  


With that, she spun on her heel and marched toward the open portal.  


“Anukai, wait!”  


She ignored her, eyes set on the opening into the dark space beyond, however the right side had started to exhibit a soft glow from something beyond the portal.  


“Stop!”  


The redhead pressed on, nearly at the doorway, before something suddenly flew past her, slamming into the metal wall beside the opening with a loud crash, followed by a cloud of chillwater that coated every nearby surface within seconds. Anukai staggered to her left, staring at the impact site for a moment before turning around, her jaw clenched as a fire began to flare in her chest. Ikrie stood with her empty sling in one hand, the other still held in place where she had clearly drawn the strap back a moment ago.  


“Anukai, _please_ …”  


“What are you afraid of?!”  


The dark-haired girl recoiled at the volume and intensity of her voice, starting once again when she realized the redhead was stalking toward her.  


“The Daemonic machines have been gone for years,” Anukai snapped. “Everything we’ve seen here is as dead as any ruin. So, again—”  


She came to a stop before the other girl, grabbing her jacket with both hands and holding it tightly in her clenched fists.  


“What are you afraid of?”  


Their eyes locked for several tense seconds before Ikrie finally blinked, clearing her throat.  


“Right now,” she managed, her voice barely louder than a whisper, “you.”  


The redhead continued to glare back at her for several long moments before the fire suddenly seemed to leave her eyes, the hazel irises even more visible as they opened wider, the color leaving her face. She suddenly released her hold on Ikrie’s coat before taking several slow steps backward.  


They continued to stare at each other in silence as both of their chests heaved, each breath exhaled as a plume of white condensation, just barely visible in the low light of the space.  


“I-I…” Anukai stammered, her voice equally as soft as Ikrie’s had been a moment ago, but she quickly trailed off, shaking her head as she continued to back away.  


Ikrie swallowed thickly as she took a tentative step forward.  


“Anukai, I…”  


She didn’t have a chance to finish as the redhead shook her head more forcefully, beginning to turn on her heel.  


“I-I’m sorry…”  


As Ikrie tried to step closer, Anukai spun and began to make her way quickly toward the open portal, moving almost as if in a daze. The sound of the other huntress’s voice calling after her vaguely rang in her ears, but she only found herself focused on the dark opening past the mysterious red eye that had called her another’s name.  


Within only moments, she had reached the threshold, and while half of her begged to pause and just give one more glance backward, the other half won out and she stepped over it without even stopping.  


Immediately, she found herself plunged into a deeper darkness than the space she had just left, but as soon as she turned toward the glow she had noticed earlier, she froze. A strip of soft, blue lighting ran along the wall on the far side, illuminating what appeared to be some kind of metal bench. Her eyes remained fixed on the lights as she slowly crossed the space, vaguely aware of when she stepped into the radius of the light’s reach. When she finally came to a stop, a foot or two away from the bench, she paused, the sounds of footsteps echoing for a moment or two longer than they should have.  


With a start, she whirled around, one hand reaching toward the knife at her belt. A figure materialized slowly from the darkness a moment later, however, and she slowly relaxed her stance. Ikrie came to a stop a yard or so away, her jaw set, but her eyes seemingly reflecting the lights a little more than they should have normally.  


“So… you came,” Anukai finally said, her voice barely louder than a breath.  


Ikrie nodded, making a sniffling sound before clearing her throat.  


“Of course. Couldn’t let one Snow Ghost go alone.”  


Anukai offered a small smile before turning back to the bench with the lights above it. As her eyes swept over it, an item in the center of it drew her attention, and she stepped closer. When she came to a stop before it, she found that it appeared to be a small square of light hovering a few inches above the bench, itself. On top of the square were some glyphs that she didn’t fully understand, but in the center of them was a slowly flashing circle. The redhead’s hand shot toward it, only to pause a moment later, her teeth digging into her lower lip as she bit it slowly.  


Finally, she closed the small gap, pressing the circle.  


Instantly, a strange chiming sound rang throughout the space and she staggered backward, pulling her hand away as fast as she could.  


“Main power offline. Emergency power restored. Power reserves operating at 50 percent.”  


The strange, unnatural voice rang about them, prompting both huntresses to draw their weapons, Ikrie ripping her sling free of her belt while Anukai pulled her bow from her shoulders. A moment later, however, the world seemed to explode in a burst of light, prompting both girls to squeeze their eyes shut tightly. After several long seconds had passed and Anukai realized she could still hear her breathing, along with Ikrie’s, she slowly cracked her eyes open, once again.  


When she did, she immediately straightened up, lowering her weapon as she began to turn slowly in place. The room was now bathed in an unnatural, white-and-blue light from a ceiling overhead that was much closer than she had expected. Said room, itself, was also much smaller than she had expected. The floor the two girls stood on was actually the second of two stories, sporting several metal benches like the one Anukai had approached a moment ago, as well as some kind of metal railing that overlooked the lower level.  


As she approached the railing and leaned over it, she found that the lower level looked almost identical to the upper one, although there appeared to be fewer benches. Her eyes lingered on a large, metal circle in the center of the lower level’s floor, but she finally turned back to Ikrie to find her also finishing her rotation as she looked about the room.  


“Each passing second…” the dark-haired huntress muttered.  


“I’m thinking this confirms it,” Anukai said, coming to a stop before her as she slung her bow back over her shoulders.  


“Confirms what?”  


“This place was built by people,” she continued. “The Old Ones.”  


Ikrie’s lips pulled into a thin line as she slid her sling back into her belt.  


“Even so…”  


“There has to be more to this place, though,” the redhead said, barely seeming to acknowledge her companion’s hesitation. “It recognized me, but wouldn’t let that assailant in.”  


Ikrie looked like she wanted to say something more for a moment, but finally sighed, nodding slowly.  


“Maybe.”  


Anukai quickly turned back to the metal bench she had seen first, approaching and scanning over the rest of it, but while more of the strange boxes made of light had appeared, they all contained more glyphs she couldn’t decipher.  


“Not getting anywhere fast over here…”  


With that, she spun on her heel, passing Ikrie still in the center of the room, and approaching one of the other benches that had sprung to life after the light had appeared. She found another square hovering over the center of this second bench, with a similar flashing shape in the middle of it.  


“Okay, let’s see what happens the second time…”  


With little hesitation, she pressed the button, only for a curt chime to sound throughout the room.  


“To view recording, please link a Focus device with the terminal.”  


Anukai frowned, tapping the shape, again, but the same thing happened, although the strange voice did add a new instruction.  


“Additional Focus devices may be available in a nearby storage locker.”  


“Storage locker?” Ikrie muttered, causing Anukai to jump as she appeared beside her. “What’s that?”  


“I… don’t know,” the redhead replied, frowning. “Like… a locked chest, maybe?”  


They glanced around the room, but Anukai didn’t find anything that resembled a chest lying about.  


“The voice said it was nearby,” she said. “So… can’t be far from here.”  


“Or it isn’t here at all, anymore,” Ikrie shot back.  


Anukai shook her head, already beginning to move toward the short set of stairs to the lower level.  


“We have to try.”  


The redhead descended the steps quickly before glancing around the lower level of the room. Her eyes quickly locked onto a large, metal box against the wall to her left, and she strode over to it. The box was easily a foot or so taller than her, and sported two handles in the center of it. Anukai took a deep breath before gripping them tightly and twisting them downward. The handles didn’t want to move for a moment, but finally gave in with a metallic groaning under Anukai’s forceful attempt.  


As soon as they gave way, the two sides of the box swung open, revealing that they were, indeed, doors. Once Anukai had opened them fully, she glanced around the inside, confusion creasing her face. Multiple shelves lined the interior, although most of them appeared to be empty. The redhead ran her fingers over one of them, pulling it away to examine the thick layer of dust that she had disturbed.  


“Find something?” Ikrie called.  


“Not sure,” Anukai replied, continuing to scan the shelves, crouching down to view the ones by her feet, but still to no avail. “Seems like something for storage, but… it’s empty.”  


Just as she rose to her feet once again and was about to give up, she gave one final hop to try to see the topmost shelf, only to catch a glimpse of something on it. Her eyes widened slightly as she hopped once again, noticing that whatever item was there appeared to be in the center of the shelf.  


Anukai rose to her toes as she stretched her arm toward the shelf, feeling for the shape she had seen a moment ago. When her fingers touched something pointed and metallic, she pulled it toward her. As she curled her fist around the item, she felt it slide and realized there were actually two.  


Her heart was hammering in her chest as she held her hand before her, slowly uncurling her fingers to reveal her bounty. Two small, triangular pieces of metal sat in her palm; while they were undoubtedly strange, nothing immediately told her that they were useful.  


“Could be… jewelry,” she muttered.  


Just as she was about to give up and put them back on the shelf, her thumb brushed over the top of one, immediately bringing a soft yellow light to life on it. Her eyes widened as she carefully lifted the now glowing trinket free with her opposite hand, turning it over several times before her.  


The yellow light formed a circle in the center of the triangle, outlining a design that looked almost like some kind of identifying mark. No matter how long Anukai stared at it, however, she couldn’t decipher what it was supposed to represent.  


“Werak… family name, maybe?”  


With a frown, she turned over the other trinket, running her thumb over the back of it, as well, and finding a blue circle that came to life, just like the other’s yellow.  


“You find something?”  


She was startled out of her daze-like focus by Ikrie’s voice, nearly dropping the trinkets in her hands in the process. With a sigh, she stepped away from the strange chest-like piece of furniture and returned to Ikrie, walking up the short set of stairs to the upper level of the room, where Ikrie waited, her arms folded over her chest.  


“I found… something,” Anukai said, holding the small pieces of metal out to her.  


Ikrie leaned forward, confusion creasing her face.  


“Jewelry?”  


“That’s what I thought, but…” the redhead said, holding one of the trinkets so the glowing circle was visible, “it shines with light.”  


Ikrie tilted her head to the side as she examined the item in her hand.  


“Blue and gold…”  


Silence fell over them for a moment or two before the dark-haired girl sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly.  


“Do you think that’s… whatever that voice was talking about?”  


“I don’t know, but we can try to find out.”  


Anukai stepped to the box of light on the bench, once again, turning the trinkets over in her hand before holding the one with the blue light into the center of the box. As she did, a sound rose in pitch until a familiar, synthetic chime sounded.  


“Focus device linked. Beginning playback.”  


Both girls stood in silence for several moments, but nothing immediately happened. Suddenly, the soft sound of voices appeared, but otherwise nothing seemed to have changed. They glanced at each other for a moment before Anukai glanced down at the metal device, lifting it closer to her. As she turned her head, holding the device closer to her ear, it suddenly seemed to snap from her fingers, flying into place at the end of her cheekbone.  


The world exploded in a flash of lights and sounds as her eyes widened and she jumped backward, clawing at the side of her face. Her fingers latched under the metal trinket and she finally managed to rip it away, the world darkening and quieting once again as she breathed heavily, staring down at where she saw the blue light sliding away from her.  


“What happened?” Ikrie demanded, stepping over to her. “Are you hurt?”  


“No, no,” the redhead breathed, blinking rapidly, “it… something happened.”  


“What? What happened?”  


She shook her head.  


“I don’t know, but… it was… speaking.”  


“Speaking? To you?”  


“I… don’t know.”  


Anukai stepped past Ikrie, even as she made a half-hearted attempt to stop her. A moment later, she crouched down beside the trinket, reaching toward it. The voices still seemed to be softly emitting from it, although what exactly they were saying was still indistinguishable. With a deep breath, she removed the trinket from the floor before holding it toward the spot alongside her ear where it had attached itself before.  


The device popped into place, once again, still prompting Anukai to jump at the burst of light and sound, but this time she resisted the urge to remove the trinket as quickly as possible. As she rose to her feet, she continued to stare wide-eyed at the web of blue and purple lines that formed a sphere around her, the much louder sound of the voices now speaking in her ear.  


As she focused on them, she found that it appeared to be a woman speaking.  


“…drink up everyone!” she was saying. “Here’s to 1,654 more years without an eruption!”  


Shortly after, the strange sound of what could be applause came through her ear, along with a crystalline clinking. As Anukai turned in place, she suddenly froze, her eyes locking onto the images of two figures projected in light, like the boxes she had seen so far, on the lower level of the room. They began to walk toward the base of the stairs, only to flicker and disappear from existence just before they reached them, the sound of the voices and the soft clinking also disappearing with them.  


Anukai continued to stare at the place they had last stood for several long moments before something suddenly shook her and she started, snapping out of her daze.  


“What happened?” Ikrie pressed. “Did it speak to you?”  


The redhead nodded slowly, almost as if in a daze.  


“What did it say?”  


“I… don’t understand it, but… something about an… eruption?”  


Confusion creased the dark-haired girl’s face.  


“Eruption? What would be erupting?”  


“I think… here.”  


“Thunder’s Drum?”  


Anukai blinked quickly, rubbing her eyes a moment later before sighing heavily and turning fully to the other girl.  


“That’s what it seems like, but… I don’t know,” she said. “It also… there were people… there.”  


Ikrie followed her gesture to the lower level, frowning slightly as she did.  


“It’s… showing you things, now?”  


“Yes, it… here, you try—”  


Anukai held the other trinket out to Ikrie, who quickly threw up her hands in defense.  


“Hold on,” she said, taking a step back as well. “Those… everything you’ve said… these seem like things only a Shaman should be handling.”  


The redhead frowned at her response, but pulled her hand back toward herself, staring down at the other piece of metal for a few moments before sighing and slipping it into a pouch on her belt.  


“In case you change your mind.”  


Ikrie still wore an uncomfortable expression on her face, but didn’t say anything else as Anukai turned back to the bench and the scene that had held the people a moment ago.  


“Okay, well… it talked to us, let’s see if we can talk to it.”  


She stepped forward, taking a deep breath, and looked down at the boxes of light hovering over the bench before her. Quickly, a small circle appeared in the center of her vision, the shape quickly filling with a green color. Another box appeared in the air before her, this one containing more glyphs she couldn’t quite decipher.  


“What is this place?” she asked, watching the glyphs to see if anything changed.  


A moment later, the box went blank, only for a new set of glyphs to appear within it.  


“Voice function established. Please repeat your question, Doctor Elisabet Sobeck.”  


A shiver ran down Anukai’s spine at the unfamiliar name, but she tried once more.  


“What is this place?”  


“You are currently located in the main control center of the Firebreak facility within Yellowstone National Park. Systems indicate that CYAN, as well as significant portions of the facility, are now offline and have suffered severe damage, however base systems still appear to be operational.”  


The redhead glanced back at Ikrie, but she only found the other girl staring at her with an expectant look.  


“Can you hear it?”  


“Hear what?”  


Anukai frowned, her fingers gently running along the bottom of the metal trinket by her ear.  


“Who is this… Elisabet Sobeck you keep saying?”  


A strange, synthetic chime sounded in her ear before the voice returned, once again.  


“I have pulled your record, Doctor Sobeck.”  


A box of light appeared in the air before her, only to fill with even more glyphs. What drew Anukai’s attention the most, though, was an image in the upper right. Her eyes widened as she tried to step closer, only for the box to move with her, remaining just as far away as it had before. The redhead stopped, and instead resorted to focusing intently on the image, instead.  


“This… looks like me, but… older?”  


“What?”  


She jumped in surprise, turning toward Ikrie, but she quickly found that the box blocked her view and she tried to wave it aside. To her surprise, the box actually slid under her hand, moving to the left side of her vision, revealing the other huntress, who looked even more confused than before.  


“There’s… it’s showing me an image,” Anukai said, gesturing to the metal trinket at her ear. “That name this place called me… it seems like… she’s a real person… a-and she looks like… an older me.”  


The dark-haired huntress began to slowly shake her head, folding her arms tightly over her chest.  


“I don’t like this, Anukai,” she said softly. “Something about this place feels… wrong.”  


“Nothing has happened to us,” the redhead sighed exasperatedly. “Why do you keep saying that?”  


“It was one thing for part of this place to speak to us, and for it to recognize you, but now it’s speaking to you?” she shot back. “This sounds like something a Shaman should be seeing, not us.”  


“And what makes us so different from a Shaman?”  


“They surround themselves in the Blue Light, all the time!” Ikrie snapped. “They learn its ways, train in it, and we… we’re messing with things we have no idea about, and have no possible way of knowing the consequences of, either.”  


Anukai had stopped only a foot or two from the other girl, their eyes locked in a tense few moments of silence before something like revelation sparked in the redhead’s eyes.  


“You know… you might have a point…”  


Confusion creased the other girl’s face almost immediately.  


“What do you mean?”  


“We need to find a Shaman.”  


Anukai reached toward the trinket at her ear, only for her fingers to accidentally hit the back of it, instead of grabbing it. The web of lights and colors around her instantly vanished, however, and she paused. She slowly pressed her fingers to the device in the same place, once again, bringing the lights back to life.  


“What… are you doing?”  


“Nothing,” Anukai said quickly, tapping the trinket to hide the lights, once again, before turning back to her companion. “Come on, let’s go.”  


She quickly turned on her heel and began to hurry back toward the entrance where they had come from.  


“Wait, why did you say we need to find a Shaman?” Ikrie called after her, jogging to catch up.  


“You said they’re trained in the Blue Light—that they know more about things like this than us—so let’s talk to one and see if they can help decipher all of this.”  


“Or we could just… not do that and go on with our lives.”  


Anukai sighed, coming to an abrupt stop and whirling toward Ikrie, who skidded to a halt just short of running into her.  


“When we left the Sheers, we said we wanted to make our own lives—write our own song—remember?”  


Ikrie remained silent for several moments, her gaze locked on Anukai’s eyes, before she finally nodded.  


“We just fell into… all of this,” she continued. “This is our chance. Our song can be so much more than two hunters in a werak at the edge of Banuk lands.”  


The other girl didn’t look entirely convinced, prompting the redhead to sigh, reaching forward and grabbing her hands, holding them tightly in her own as she lifted them between the two of them.  


“I can’t forget about what I’ve seen here, so far, and what I’ve heard, already,” she said softly, “and I don’t want my song to continue without you. Please, Ikrie… please come with me.”  


She kept her eyes locked on the other girl’s for several long moments as she watched them begin to shine a little brighter with the light from above them. Finally, the dark-haired huntress nodded, taking a deep breath in through her nose.  


“I can’t let a Snow Ghost go alone.”  


A smile creased Anukai’s face as she laughed, releasing one of her hands from around Ikrie’s and placing it behind her head as she brought the two of their heads closer together, pressing her forehead against the other huntress’s as she closed her eyes.  


“And so our song carries on.”  


With one last sigh, she released the other huntress taking a step back.  


“Let’s go find that Shaman, then.”  


“Wait, there’s one more thing, first,” Ikrie said, prompting the other girl to stop, her eyebrows raised. “We need to show Koluk we succeeded.”  


Anukai nodded slowly, chewing the inside of her cheek as she turned back to the opening behind her, the body of the assailant visible at the edge of the light that spilled from the space where they stood.  


“I guess we should return with a trophy…”  


“I’m not carrying him all the way back.”  


“We don’t have to carry all of him.”  


Anukai made her way to the body, kneeling beside it and reaching for its right arm. Once she had managed to pull it from under its back, she removed her hunting knife from her belt. She carefully placed the assailant’s arm on the ground, spreading the fingers of the hand with some difficulty as the body had already begun to grow stiff.  


With a deep breath, she raised the knife, took aim, and drove it down onto the index finger. With a sickening crunch, the blade severed the finger, a small pool of vermilion already beginning to form on the ground beneath it. She quickly did the same to the middle finger, before grabbing both severed appendages from the ground.  


Anukai glanced up at Ikrie, holding them up for her to see, to which the other huntress made a face of disgust.  


“Both bow fingers,” the redhead said. “Should be proof enough.”  


“Disgusting.”  


Anukai smirked, wiping the bloodied stumps on the assailant’s clothing before cutting off a strip of it and using it to wrap them. Once her damp package was secured, she tied it in place on her belt, letting out a sigh.  


“Let’s get moving,” she said, rising to her feet. “I can’t remember how long we’ve been in here, and if we have to scale that cliff down to the valley, once again, I don’t want to do that in the dark.”  


By the time they had finally found their way out of Thunder’s Drum, once again, the sun was just sinking below the horizon, casting the world in the smoky hue of twilight, although the sky was lit in brilliant pinks and oranges. With a sigh, Anukai turned her attention from the darkening sky to the snow-covered trail they had followed to the hidden entrance, their footsteps from earlier still clearly visible amidst the otherwise unbroken snow.  


“So about that cliff face…” Ikrie started, smirking as she glanced over at the redhead.  


“Let’s follow this and see where it leads us, then.”  


The march through the snow started out simple enough, however by the time they had begun to approach the bottom of the trail, it had quickly grown to nearly knee-deep, and when they finally came to a stop where the mountain trail opened into the main floor of the valley, both girls were panting and wiping sweat from their brows.  


“You know… I’m remembering… why… we don’t… go… off the beaten… path… that often…” Ikrie managed, wiping the back of her glove across her forehead and shaking the droplets of sweat onto the ground beside her.  


Anukai made a grunting sound in agreement, wiping at the back of her neck before shaking her hand to her side, as well. Once their breathing had come back under control, the two girls set out across the open ground of the valley, heading toward the familiar silhouette of the mountain range in which their settlement lay. After a few minutes of walking, however, the level of snow began to decrease, and the walking became easier.  


Still, they moved in silence, their eyes constantly scanning over the open ground for the telltale signs of moving lights or large shapes amongst the trees in the distance. Compared to the sprint after the assailant earlier, the return journey was much less eventful, with their path only forced to divert once to pass around a herd of Grazers. They both heaved sighs of relief when they stepped onto the familiar path that eventually led up to the settlement.  


The steep incline of the narrow, rocky path that greeted them at the base of the mesa barely seemed to require any effort compared to the previous mountain trail they had followed. As they reached the crest, the two hunters on guard quickly perked up, the one on the left stepping forward.  


“You’ve returned,” he said. “Koluk has been waiting.”  


Anukai and Ikrie nodded, beginning to step past the hunter when he cleared his throat.  


“Did you catch him?”  


They paused, Anukai glancing over toward the hunter before nodding again, letting out a heavy sigh. His lips pulled into a thin line for a moment before he nodded, clapping a hand down on her shoulder.  


“Then his punishment has been dealt.”  


With that, the two girls made their way toward the gathering of tents, approaching the one they had entered earlier, although this time its entrance was flanked by two more hunters. As they came to a stop before them, one of the hunters leaned into the opening, muttering something inaudible. A moment later, he straightened up, turning back to the girls.  


“Head inside.”  


They nodded, slipping past the guards and into the chieftain’s tent. Almost immediately, Koluk rose from his seat at the far end, stepping past two other figures seated before him.  


“I take it your return means vengeance has been taken,” he said, looking to the girls expectantly.  


Anukai nodded, reaching into the pouch on her belt to produce the now quite damp cloth package. Koluk took it, quickly unravelling it and spilling the severed fingers into the palm of his hand. He nodded resolutely, looking back up at the redhead.  


“The werak commends you,” he said. “Although the initial bloodshed was unnecessary, it demanded to be paid in it.”  


The two girls nodded, bowing their heads slightly.  


“Where did you finally catch him?”  


They exchanged glances for a moment before Anukai cleared her throat.  


“Thunder’s Drum.”  


Koluk’s eyebrows knit in what appeared to be an expression of concern as the redhead noted how one of the figures on the floor behind him shifted at the name.  


“Why was he headed to Thunder’s Drum?”  


She shook her head.  


“I don’t know. We tracked him inside, through—”  


“You _entered_ Thunder’s Drum?”  


The new voice caused her to stop short, starting at the volume and intensity of it. Koluk sighed, stepping aside to glance back as one of the figures rose from the ground. Immediately, Anukai noted the blue cords set into his skin, and her eyebrows raised slightly.  


“That place is dangerous for the wrong individual,” the man said, approaching the three of them.  


“Well, guess we were the right ones,” she replied, straightening her posture slightly as the Shaman approached.  


As the man approached, he suddenly came to a stop, staring at Anukai specifically with an unreadable expression.  


“She wears one of the devices…”  


Koluk looked confused as he glanced between Anukai and the Shaman, but before he could speak, the other man had stepped forward, grabbing the redhead by her shoulder.  


“We need to speak—alone.”  


Before she could put up a protest, he had dragged her out of the chieftain’s tent and into the darkness of the mesa outside. She tried to twist free, but he kept his firm grip has he led her across the open ground to the far side of the mesa, where a shrine to the fallen hunters had already begun construction, the wooden frame already having been put in place, while the conspicuous shapes wrapped in fur blankets lay in the snow before it.  


Soon after, Anukai’s attention was torn from the shrine as the Shaman placed his hand on her other shoulder, holding her in place before him.  


“You wear one of the devices,” he said, almost accusatorily.  


“I found this, yes,” she replied.  


“You know not what power it possesses.”  


“I have seen and heard things from it,” she shot back.  


“It… it revealed the light to you?”  


Anukai’s jaw clenched as she nodded, lifting her chin slightly under the man’s incredulous gaze.  


“But… you are not a Shaman,” he said softly. “How? How did you get it to reveal the light?”  


“The place—Thunder’s Drum—spoke to me, and… I listened.”  


The Shaman began to shake his head, letting his hands fall from her shoulders as he paced before her.  


“This… this is why I said it was dangerous for the wrong individual,” he muttered.  


“It spoke of—of an eruption,” she pressed, watching the man intently for his reaction.  


“Yes, Thunder’s Drum serves a purpose to protect the people of the Cut,” the Shaman replied, almost flippantly, before pausing mid-step and whirling toward her. “It told you of its purpose?”  


“It told me that parts of it were broken or—or missing,” she pressed further. “It specifically mentioned a… CYAN—”  


The Shaman’s eyes widened at the word, and he quickly stepped closer to Anukai, gripping her shoulders tightly, once again.  


“It spoke of CYAN to you?” he whispered.  


Anukai stared back at him with widened eyes for a moment before nodding slowly. The Shaman released her, resuming his pacing and muttering incoherently. Finally, he came to a stop before her, once again, leaning in close to her and speaking in a hushed tone.  


“Did it say if it had returned?”  


Confusion laced Anukai’s face as she shook her head.  


“It said it was missing.”  


The Shaman sighed, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.  


“It would do you best to forget any mention of it.”  


“What is it?”  


The Shaman shook his head, waving dismissively.  


“It is not—”  


“Tell me,” Anukai demanded, taking an aggressive step forward as her hands clenched into fists at her sides.  


“You are not—”  


“That place spoke to me,” she hissed. “It spoke as if it knew me.”  


The Shaman froze in place, eyes wide as he stared back at her.  


“It… you?”  


She nodded.  


“So clearly I am not the wrong person to enter Thunder’s Drum,” she continued. “Now tell me what CYAN is.”  


The Shaman shook his head, muttering something under his breath before he heaved a heavy sigh, shrugging his shoulders dejectedly.  


“It was a spirit,” he began.  


“Was?”  


He nodded.  


“It spoke mainly to another Shaman—the one who trained me… or so she told me.”  


“Who was this other Shaman?”  


“Her name was Ourea,” he sighed. “She was the sister of another werak chieftain, Aratak. Both of them have joined the Blue Light, now, however she did tell me as much of this spirit as she could before her passing.”  


Anukai swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat, her fingers working tensely against her slick palms at her sides.  


“What did she say of it?”  


“It dwelled within Thunder’s Drum,” he continued, “but it was… captured… by another spirit. Ourea… attempted to free it, but… she could not. When the Daemonic machines began to disappear, and Thunder’s Drum fell silent—nearly twenty years ago—we were able to enter it, once again, however we were also told that CYAN was missing. It has not returned, since, however neither I nor other Shamans in the Cut have entered in some time.”  


“So you’ve been there, too?”  


He nodded.  


“And did it recognize you by name?”  


Confusion creased the Shaman’s face as he shook his head.  


“No, it did not speak to me in such a way,” he replied. “That part of your story is what intrigues me the most. Perhaps you do serve some larger purpose, yet. You only joined this werak within the last year, correct?”  


Anukai nodded, her heart rate beginning to accelerate as she fidgeted with a seam at the bottom of her jacket.  


“Where did you come from before then?”  


“The Sheers,” she replied.  


“You were raised there?”  


She nodded.  


“With Ikrie.”  


The Shaman glanced past her toward the tent they had left minutes ago before taking a deep breath and turning back to her.  


“I do not know what this means, yet,” he began, “however it cannot be nothing.”  


The Shaman began to pace away from her, when Anukai cleared her throat, bringing his attention back to her.  


“Does anyone know where this CYAN or the other spirit went?”  


Confusion creased the Shaman’s brow as he turned to face her.  


“Not particularly,” he replied. “Some say to the south.”  


“Who said?”  


“Word came from Outlanders that led us to believe it so,” he replied, shaking his head. “Why do you ask?”  


Anukai stared back at him for several long moments, chewing the inside of her cheek slowly before she cleared her throat, blinking rapidly for a moment or two.  


“No reason.”  


With that, she turned on her heel to walk back to the tent, when the Shaman quickly slid in front of her, once again.  


“The device you wear,” he said softly, “be wary. It carries great power, however… not all respect it.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she Shaman leaned in toward her, his voice falling to barely louder than a whisper.  


“Some fear it.”  


With that, he straightened up, gave her one last glance up and down, his eyes lingering on the device at her ear, and turned to walk away. She watched him go for several moments before a shiver ran down her spine and she rubbed at her upper arms. Finally, she made her way back to Koluk’s tent, where Ikrie was waiting outside with the other hunters. When they saw the redhead approaching, she nodded to them and began to walk toward her.  


“What happened?” she whispered as their paths intersected and they turned to continue along the row of tents.  


“It was about Thunder’s Drum and… this,” Anukai replied just as softly, gesturing to the metal device at her ear.  


“I told you…”  


“It’s not necessarily a bad thing,” the redhead sighed, coming to a stop before the last tent in the row and gesturing inside.  


Ikrie slipped through the opening as she followed behind her. The dark-haired girl took a seat on the bedroll to the right, letting out a groan before reaching toward the lantern in the center and lighting its flame. Anukai fastened the entrance to the tent before falling onto the opposite bedroll, taking care to keep her snow-covered boots off it.  


“So what did he say about all— _that_?” Ikrie said, vaguely gesturing toward the world beyond their tent.  


“That Thunder’s Drum used to house a spirit, called CYAN,” Anukai began, “and it’s been missing for almost twenty years.”  


“That’s… a lot,” Ikrie replied, her eyes slightly widened. “What does that have to do with you, though? That wasn’t the name that eye called you.”  


“No, it wasn’t,” Anukai frowned, “but I think CYAN might know the answer to that.”  


Ikrie sighed, tugging her gloves off before unfastening the top few clasps on her jacket so that it was no longer pressed against her throat.  


“You want to go find it.”  


Anukai nodded, a grinning tugging at her lips.  


“And where did the Shaman think it went?”  


“South.”  


“South?”  


Ikrie raised her eyebrows as she crossed her legs before her, placing her gloves in her lap.  


“It’s a little hard to be Snow Ghosts in the heat, Anukai.”  


“So we’ll just be Ghosts.”  


The dark-haired huntress sighed, running her hands through her hair as she shook her head slowly.  


“Anukai, the mountain was one thing…”  


“And what I said inside it still stands,” the redhead interjected. “Ikrie, I said we needed to talk to a Shaman, and one went out of his way to talk to me. That has to mean something.”  


“Maybe it means we’re getting in over our heads.”  


“And maybe it means our song doesn’t begin and end up here in the snow and ice.”  


Ikrie sighed exasperatedly, staring back at Anukai, who had risen to a similar seated position on her bedroll.  


“There’s no convincing you not to do this at this point, is there?”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as Ikrie sighed, throwing her hands into the air exasperatedly.  


“Fine, we’ll go.”  


“Ikrie—”  


“You’ve already made up your mind, and… I’m not letting you go alone,” she interrupted. “So… we leave tomorrow, I take it?”  


The redhead stared back at her in silence for several moments before sighing heavily.  


“Might as well.”  


The two girls finally turned in, wrapping themselves in their bedrolls in silence before Anukai extinguished their lantern. The night seemed to pass in an instant, the redhead’s sleep void of dreams or thoughts, it seemed, until the sound of wind whistling by outside woke her. Her eyes cracked open to find the tent softly lit by sunlight shining through the sides, casting everything in an almost beige glow. A yawn forced its way out of her as she began to sit up, her gaze casting toward the bedroll across from her.  


The shape of a figure beneath the blanket was clearly visible, although something about the scene made her pause. The blanket, itself, seemed… different. It wasn’t the same mottled gray fur that she remembered, but a black, sleek fabric. Confusion creased her face until her hand ran across her own blanket and she found something similar in place of hers, as well.  


She glanced down to find her blanket was a dark green color, and whatever fabric it was made out of felt distinctly… unnatural. Anukai’s heart rate began to skyrocket as she cast it aside, glancing around the interior of the tent to find that several other things had changed. The lantern between the two bedrolls was no longer the same Banuk design of blue glass banded to a circular, metal base, but a strange green cage around some kind of round, glass contraption in the center. Two large packs sat at the foot of the bedrolls, each of them of a design that she had never seen before.  


Her confusion quickly began to turn to panic as she rose to her knees, happening to glance down only to notice that she was wearing clothing she did not recognize. Her leggings, while tightly-fitting, were now black and made out of a strange, stretchy material, and her jacket and underlying tunic had been swapped for a dark red top with sleeves that clenched tightly around her wrists.  


“What… what’s…?”  


She quickly scrambled across the enclosed space, coming to a stop beside the opposite bedroll and placing a hand on the shoulder of the other figure, shaking them.  


“Ikrie?”  


As the figure stirred, Anukai froze. The blanket of the bedroll had pulled back slightly under her touch to reveal not the familiar head of dark hair she had grown accustomed to, but another shock of red hair almost identical to hers. She quickly reached for her braid, only to find that her hair now hung loose around her shoulders, although it still retained its normal red color.  


“I’m up, kiddo.”  


She recoiled at the sound of the other figure’s voice, quickly falling back onto her own bedroll as her chest heaved in panic.  


“Just… just a dream…” she began to mutter, shaking her head, squeezing her eyes closed. “Wake up, wake up, wake up…”  


A moment later, another voice cut through her hammering heart beat and panicked breathing, prompting her to hold her breath for a moment.  


“You don’t have to be so insistent. I already said I’d go.”  


Anukai cracked her eyes open, once again, to find that she was now staring at the image of Ikrie sitting up in her bedroll, stretching her arms over her head. The redhead breathed a heavy sigh, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position, as well.  


“Sorry, I wasn’t… that wasn’t meant for you,” she said.  


Ikrie paused mid-stretch, looking toward Anukai curiously.  


“Nightmare?”  


Anukai shrugged, yawning.  


“Strange dream, at least.”  


“A warning?”  


The redhead shook her head.  


“Don’t think so, just… disorienting.”  


Ikrie still looked concerned as she turned on her bedroll, kneeling so that she faced the other girl.  


“You sure everything’s good?”  


Anukai nodded insistently.  


“Everything’s fine.”  


When she looked back over at the dark-haired huntress, she found her staring back with a strange, half-lidded expression.  


“What?”  


The other girl blinked rapidly, seemingly snapping out of her daze.  


“Nothing.”  


They continued to prepare, gathering their things in silence until they both stood at the entrance to the tent, glancing around the now-barren interior. When they finally turned to each other, they both offered forced smiles before stepping outside into the bright light of sunrise. The mesa was already alive with hunters preparing for the day, eating a morning meal at the various wooden tables by the large bonfires at the edge of the flat, open ground and stocking up on supplies before descending into the valley below.  


“You know, we never got to eat last night,” Ikrie pointed out.  


“I know, and I’m starving,” Anukai replied, smirking. “Come on, let’s get something before we head out.”  


They began to make their way toward the line waiting to receive food, squinting slightly against the bright sunlight shining over the top of the distant mountain range.  


“We’re going to tell Koluk that we’re leaving, I’m assuming?” the dark-haired huntress sighed once they had their place in line.  


“That would probably be a good idea,” Anukai sighed.  


Just then, a loud voice echoed across the open ground and they both glanced around until they spotted the large figure who it belonged to approaching from the other side of the tables.  


“Guess we have our chance, already,” Ikrie muttered.  


Koluk came to a stop beside the two girls, placing his hands on their shoulders.  


“Come, you two deserve a better reward than the end of the line,” he said, grinning.  


They exchanged glances briefly but followed the chieftain as he led them to the front, where the smell of cooking meat was the strongest.  


“These two brought vengeance upon those who attacked us yesterday,” Koluk said as they approached. “Let them have their share in reward.”  


They tried to avoid the glances and murmurings from the other hunters in the line as they accepted the offer of roast boar and followed Koluk to a table at the edge the very edge of the pack.  


“The others can look on in jealousy,” he said, laughing as they took seats opposite him. “They did not leap into action to pursue the assailant.”  


The two girls nodded but otherwise remained silent, prompting Koluk to regard them with a concerned expression.  


“What bothers you, huntresses?”  


They exchanged glances, once again, before sighing and turning back to the chieftain.  


“It’s in regards to what we found in Thunder’s Drum yesterday.”  


Koluk’s look of concern only deepened.  


“Another threat?”  


“No,” they said quickly, both shaking their heads.  


“It’s… involving a spirit that the Shamans have previously communicated with,” Anukai began. “When the Shaman spoke to me last night, he told me of it.”  


“Why did he share such knowledge with you?” the chieftain asked, his concern and confusion no lesser.  


“Because of what we found in Thunder’s Drum,” the redhead explained, pulling the metal trinket from beside her ear and holding it so he could see.  


Koluk frowned slightly as he stared down at the device.  


“What is it?”  


“Something the Shamans have used since the one named Ourea first communicated with this spirit,” Anukai replied, slipping the device back alongside her ear and tapping the side of it to dissipate the lights and glyphs that appeared as she did. “It allowed the… the light inside the mountain to speak to me.”  


Koluk glanced between the two girls for a moment before clearing his throat, his gaze settling on Ikrie.  


“Did you experience this, too?”  


Anukai felt her stomach clenching as her fingers played with the end of the wooden skewer that held the roast boar she had been offered moments ago. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Ikrie replied.  


“I did.”  


Anukai tried not to let her surprise show outwardly as she continued to stare down at her food, also unable to look up at Koluk to judge his reaction. Finally, after several long moments she heard the sound of the chieftain’s heavy sigh.  


“So what has arisen because of this? I can sense you wish to tell me something.”  


Anukai finally forced herself to look across the table, once again.  


“We seek to pursue this spirit… to find where it has gone and… answers.”  


Confusion creased his brow as he leaned forward against the table.  


“Answers to what, exactly?”  


Koluk’s tone was not necessarily accusatory, but it still kept Anukai on edge as she picked at the edge of the meat in her hand.  


“It… spoke to me… as if it knew me.”  


“The mountain?”  


Anukai nodded, but Koluk did not reply. After several long moments, he heaved a heavy sigh, shaking his head.  


“I do not pretend to understand the intricacies of the Blue Light, nor how it manifests itself in this world,” he began, “but I trust that if this is something that has been shown to you… then perhaps you serve a higher purpose than this werak. I will not fight your decision, nor attempt to dissuade you, however I will lament the loss of such fine hunters.”  


Anukai’s eyebrows raised as she felt the tension in her stomach slowly release. She exchanged a quick glance with Ikrie before turning back to the chieftain.  


“Thank you, Koluk,” she said. “We value what you have provided here within the werak for this past year, and should we have a means of repaying it, we shall.”  


“You already have, huntresses,” he replied, laughing. “You owe me no debt. Go forth. While we have had peace within these lands for years, I have felt a distinct lack of the Blue Light, as well. May you find your answers, and hopefully, return some of that to these lands.”  


The huntresses expressed their thanks and quickly finishing their meal of now lukewarm boar meat. Once they had finished, they thanked Koluk, once again, and began to make their way off the mesa.  


“Anukai, Ikrie, a final word,” he called, rising to his feet as they moved to pass him. “The fastest route out of the Cut is through the settlement of Song’s Edge. I know you two have not ventured from Banuk lands, to my knowledge, so my advice is that you will want to acquire supplies for your journey southward there. In much of the world beyond, and especially amidst the sands of the Carja capital, be wary that the sun is not as much of an ally as it is in Banuk lands.”  


The two girls nodded before Koluk clapped them both heartily on their shoulders.  


“I have every faith in you two,” he said, grinning, “and I do not worry for your survival.”  


They both offered their thanks, once again, before he finally released them, allowing them to make their way toward the trail out of the settlement.  


The journey to Song’s Edge took a good part of the morning, although they both were thankful that it lay along the well-worn trails of the hunters in the valley, preventing a forced march as brutal as their return journey the night before. When they reached the base of another mesa with the signs of a Banuk settlement atop it, they each gave each other one last glance before heading up the trail along the side of the rocky cliff face.  


At the top, the hunters standing guard barely gave them a second glance, particularly after noting their clothing, and they entered the settlement. Immediately, it was much more apparent how close they were to the border of Banuk lands. Almost half of the people they saw milling about the open areas around the tents wore distinctly non-Banuk clothing, with the majority adorned in bright Carja colors.  


As they passed a group of four outlanders all with some article of clothing that seemed to be colored with a yellow drawn directly from the sun, Anukai gave Ikrie a look with raised eyebrows.  


“Has no one told them the idea behind hunting is _not_ wanting to be seen?” she muttered.  


Both girls laughed as they continued onward past the tents of the Banuk who actually lived in the village, their eyes set on those farther back into the mountain pass where the sounds of metal clanging and the stench of burning sulphur filled the air. Upon approaching, a woman straightened up from the bench where she was working and stepped forward, running the back of her hand across her brow. She wore a leather apron over a somewhat dirty and stained shirt that seemed to have been white, at one point, along with a leather headpiece that covered her hair from the top of her forehead to roughly the crown of her skull. Despite the temperature and the wind that blew through the narrow mountain passageway, and that she wore no protective jacket, her dark skin still shone with a sheen of sweat. It was immediately apparent she was an outlander, but not of the same variety as the Carja “hunters” they had seen thus far.  


“Good day to you, ma’ams,” she called. “You look interested in some wares, perhaps.”  


“We are,” Anukai replied, the two girls coming to a stop before her.  


“Well, I’ve got a little bit of everything,” the woman said, gesturing to the tent around her. “Anything in particular catch your eye?”  


“We’re heading south,” Ikrie chimed in. “Anything you could recommend for the journey?”  


The woman bit her lower lip for a moment as she turned in place, glancing around at the various tables before turning back to them.  


“You have a bow, I see,” she said, gesturing to Anukai. “You make your own arrows, I take it?”  


The redhead nodded.  


“Some sharpshot and tearblast arrows couldn’t hurt, too,” she said. “Tear the parts right off of machines in two very different ways.”  


Anukai’s eyebrows raised slightly at that and the woman smirked.  


“And I see you favor a sling,” she said. “I’ve got lots of different types of ammunition for those.”  


The two girls exchanged impressed glances before turning back to her.  


“You picked all that up that quickly?”  


The woman shrugged, smirking.  


“Weapons are my specialty, and I’ve learned to read hunters very well.”  


Within a matter of minutes, and after some light haggling of price and trades, the girls stowed their new ammunition and Anukai had even been convinced to surrender her bow for a minor modification, which the merchant performed in front of her. As she took the weapon and drew the string back, nocking an arrow to it for good measure, she nodded.  


“You do fine work,” she said, returning the weapon and the arrow to their respective resting places.  


“And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” the woman added, smirking.  


“What’s your name?”  


“Varga.”  


“Well, thank you greatly, Varga,” Anukai replied, nodding.  


“May I ask, what tribe are you from?” Ikrie chimed in, looking her clothes over, once again. “You don’t strike me as one of the Carja we’ve seen so far.”  


“Fire and spit I’m not!” Varga laughed. “One hundred percent Oseram blood runs in these veins.”  


“Oseram…” Ikrie repeated, nodding. “Are there more of you south of here, too?”  


“You can find us scattered about,” she replied, shrugging. “Lot of us decided to take our tinkering out of the Claim to make a name and some shards for ourselves. If you’re ever in need of some more ammunition, some repairs, or a shiny new weapon… keep an eye out for an Oseram merchant. You won’t find anything finer.”  


The two girls nodded, exchanging a final goodbye with the Oseram before she pointed them in the direction of another merchant farther down the pass who specifically dealt in clothing. The huntresses thanked her, once again, before making their way to the second merchant. The Banuk peddling various outfits was much less talkative than Varga, but did provide enough information for them to attain lighter clothing more suited for the heat and the sunlight of the world past the Cut.  


With their new possessions, and much fewer shards, in hand, they began the trek through the various caves and narrow mountain passes leading farther away from Song’s Edge. Finally, as the sun was well on its way toward the western horizon, the two huntresses came to a stop on an outlook over the enormous, metal legs of an ancient machine half-buried in the side of the mountain.  


“The world of the Old Ones seems so—terrifying—at times,” Ikrie commented, eying the machine carcass warily.  


“Well, their world did die out at some point,” Anukai sighed, wiping the sweat from her forehead that had already begun to run into her eyes. “Maybe things like this are why.”  


“Maybe? I’d say definitely.”  


The redhead gave her companion an admonishing look, which Ikrie returned with a grin.  


“Well, we made it past the difficult part,” Anukai sighed, “but we should perhaps continue farther south before trying to set up camp for the night.”  


“We’ve got plenty of daylight,” Ikrie shrugged. “Might as well.”  


The journey down the much gentler slope of the lower portion of the mountain passed rather quickly, and just as the sun was sinking below the tips of the distant mountain ranges, they found themselves walking atop grass without a layer of snow or frost covering it, and both girls took a moment to marvel at the sheer amount of greenery that now surrounded them.  


“All of this… only this far from the Cut…” Ikrie remarked, unlatching the front of her jacket and fanning it open before her.  


“Makes the world feel… smaller and bigger… at the same time,” Anukai added, nodding as she unfastened her coat, as well.  


As the sun finally set behind the mountains, the huntresses found shelter in a small, rocky alcove they had come upon as they wandered along the base of the mountain they had just descended. Within minutes, they had managed to gather enough wood to form a small fire between their two bedrolls, Ikrie making quick work of actually starting it once Anukai had returned with the supplies.  


With a sigh, Anukai took a seat on her bedroll, shrugging her thick, Banuk coat off and making a face of disgust as she ran her hand along her arm, feeling the layer of sweat that she wicked away as she did. Ikrie didn’t seem to be faring much better as she removed hers, exhibiting an almost identical reaction. The two girls exchanged glances before they both broke out into laughter.  


“I guess there’s worse problems to have,” Ikrie finally managed, wrapping her jacket tightly before tying it in place with the piece of leather cord that had been used for the same function about her new, lighter clothing she had purchased from the merchant.  


“True…” Anukai nodded, letting out a heavy sigh as she carefully undid her braid and instead twisted her hair, making a disapproving noise as droplets of sweat dripped from it. “I’m not made for warm temperatures, I think.”  


A soft humming sound came from Ikrie as Anukai released her hair, letting it fall in a wild mane around her shoulders as she let out a heavy sigh. When she glanced over at the other girl, she found her staring back with an unreadable expression on her face.  


“Give it some time,” she finally said. “We’ll see.”  


Anukai raised her eyebrows slightly, but Ikrie quickly looked away, clearing her throat as she placed her jacket at the head of her bedroll before removing some dried meat from the pouch tossed on the ground between them. The redhead regarded her in silence for a moment or two longer before sighing and grabbing some of the meat, herself.  


“So, where to from here?” Ikrie asked, stretching out on her side on her bedroll as she idly tore a piece of the dried meat free and popped it into her mouth.  


“I… don’t know,” Anukai sighed, mimicking her posture. “The Shaman only said ‘south’.”  


“Does that thing have anything to say, now?” Ikrie asked, gesturing to the device at the redhead’s ear.  


She frowned slightly, but tapped it, anyway. The web of light appeared around her, along with the square that held the glyphs and the image of the older woman who looked so much like her. With a sigh, she tore her eyes from the image, glancing toward the entrance to the alcove.  


“Where is CYAN?”  


Silence fell over them for several moments before Anukai tried again.  


“What is south of here?”  


Still, only silence greeted her, and she frowned.  


“Doesn’t seem to have much to say, now.”  


As she turned back to Ikrie, she jumped in surprise. The device now showed what appeared to be an image of a person, in light, over the real-world image of the other huntress. Anukai noted that while the light-figure lacked many details, it did seem to indicate the rather natural shape of a human form…  


She quickly tapped the device, closing the web of light and removing the light-figure from view, only to reveal Ikrie regarding her with a strange look.  


“Did you forget I was here?”  


“N-no, just… never mind.”  


The redhead quickly ate the pieces of dried meat she had taken, suddenly wishing that the fire had gone out, already, as it provided too much light on her face for how warm she felt.  


“So… it didn’t talk to you, this time?” Ikrie continued, still regarding her with a strange look.  


“No, it didn’t,” Anukai managed as she swallowed the rather large amount of food she had shoved into her mouth. “I’m thinking this is more of a—connection—to the light, when it’s nearby, and not a little piece of it I can carry with me.”  


“That… makes a bit of sense, at least.”  


Anukai shot her an admonishing look as the other huntress laughed. They continued in idle conversation until they both had eaten as much as they dared from their rations, at which point Ikrie grabbed a handful of dirt and tossed it on the campfire, extinguishing the last of the flames so they could sleep. As Anukai laid on her bedroll, folding her jacket beneath her head to serve as a pillow, as Ikrie had down, she let out a heavy sigh, folding her hands over her stomach. She listened to the sounds of the other huntress settling into her bedroll for several moments until she, too, fell quiet.  


“Ikrie?”  


A soft hum answered her.  


“Thank you… for coming with me.”  


A long, slow breath followed before the other huntress answered.  


“I already said—”  


“I know, and… still. Thank you.”  


A moment of silence followed before a soft sigh answered from the other side of the alcove.  


“Our song was not bound to separate, just yet.”  


A small smile tugged at the redhead’s lips as she rolled her head to the side; she could just make out the shape of Ikrie’s silhouette in the dark of the alcove at night. Soon after, the steady sounds of the other girl’s breathing told her that she had drifted off into sleep, and Anukai closed her eyes, attempting to do the same, letting the warmth and the darkness wrap about her until she felt herself sink and dissipate into it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully some things are starting to fall into place as far as when and how this is all going down.
> 
> Feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer them in as spoiler-free of a way as I can!


	3. I've Seen Your Face Before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday... later than usual, but still Monday.
> 
> I'm not dead, nor did I randomly abandon the story. This past weekend was kind of a crazy whirlwind with friends visiting and celebrating Christmas/New Year's/Birthday stuff (belatedly, clearly) and between that and starting a new job last week, I hadn't been able to finish off the chapter this week like I wanted.
> 
> So, as I had today off work anyway, I did. I wanted to take the time to get a good amount of content and make sure it was as well written as I could get it, rather than just posting something short and half-hearted just to post at midnight.
> 
> Anyway, excuses, excuses.
> 
> My apologies for the delay. Chapter 3, ahoy.

The warm feeling seemed to continue even into unconsciousness, and it wasn’t long before Anukai found herself blinking against a bright light. She squinted at the sudden change for a moment, trying to get her bearings. The first thing she became aware of was that she was standing, and immediately the hair on the back of her neck began to raise.  


She glanced down at her feet to find what appeared to be a dusty, brush-laden ground that didn’t quite match the greenery at the foot of the mountain she had just descended, but gave her the impression of somewhere warmer, more barren.  


When she raised her head, once again, she saw that the open ground seemed to extend as far as she could see in each direction, only broken up by a single shape ahead of her. She squinted against the light once again, her legs suddenly carrying her toward it, seemingly of their own accord.  


A blink later, however, and she was standing directly before whatever she had seen in the distance, although it now had much more definition and shape to it. Instantly, Anukai felt the warm feeling in her chest disappear as ice poured through her veins. The face from the strange box of light shown to her by Thunder’s Drum now stood mere feet away, all hints of the glowing blue light gone, and no longer somewhat translucent.  


The red-haired woman’s face suddenly contorted in confusion.  


“You’re not who… is supposed to be here.”  


Anukai blinked rapidly, suddenly finding herself staring at what appeared to be an exact image of herself, except… something was different.  


She didn’t have time to focus on the small details, however, as the next blink brought the older woman before her, once again.  


“Who are you?”  


Anukai tried to speak, but her voice didn’t seem to cooperate, her lips refusing to part. As more panic began to set in, the older woman’s eyes began to widen.  


“Wait…”  


Suddenly, just as quickly as the entire scene had appeared, it was gone, leaving Anukai alone in a much darker space. She whirled around, finding herself still on her feet, but still not back in the alcove where she had fallen asleep. The space she now stood in seemed to be… metal.  


“Just like Thunder’s Drum…” she muttered, her voice seemingly returning, but just like the strange image of herself she had seen a moment ago, something was… different.  


Just then, a strange sound like the ones the strange place in Thunder’s Drum had made sounded around her, followed soon after by a burst of light from her left. As she whirled toward it, she found an image of another woman, although she appeared much more like the still one the light had shown her.  


“Doctor Sobeck, you are behaving… erratically.”  


Anukai’s eyes widened at the mention of the name and she took an insistent step toward the strange, partially-glowing woman.  


“Who is Elisabet Sobeck?”  


The woman’s brow knit in confusion for a moment before she replied.  


“I apologize, Aloy, I—”  


“Aloy?”  


Just then, the sensation of falling sank in Anukai’s stomach and she felt herself jolt forward. The world had changed, yet again, although this time she could sense that she was seated.  


“Falling asleep in class, Miss Sobeck?”  


Her head whipped around at the sound of the voice, finding an older man in a style of clothing she had never seen looking toward her from the front of what appeared to be a large room, but she could barely make out details beyond the white walls and the strange, dark rectangle that occupied most of the one directly before her.  


She tried to stand up, to move in any way, but something jabbed into her stomach, stopping her. When Anukai glanced down, she found some kind of strange, wooden apparatus wrapped around the front of her seat, a bound collection of pages covered in glyphs left open on it. Her heart rate skyrocketed as she attempted to shove the pages and the strange apparatus away from her, but to little success.  


As she finally decided to forgo moving them out of her way and simply try to slip to her side, sliding out from underneath it, she found herself immediately tumbling forward. As she hit the ground, she found that she was back on a dusty, brush-covered surface. She attempted to raise herself from the ground, when she caught sight of something only a foot or so away.  


At first glance, it was impossible to tell what it was, as she could only make out a black, strangely mottled surface that emitted a small column of smoke. The stench of something burning quickly filled the air as she shoved herself to her knees, looking around wildly. Her eyes quickly fell on the sight of a large tree before her, the branches seemingly burned away while the bark still sizzled and smoked from a recently extinguished fire.  


“Lis, you—you have to care.”  


Anukai whirled to her left to find another red-haired woman kneeling beside her. At first she thought it was the same woman from just after she had fallen asleep, and the image the light had shown her, but she quickly began to realize that there were enough differences that she couldn’t simply account them as being due to age, although this new woman did appear to be slightly younger.  


“You have to use your smarts to count for something to… serve life, not—”  


“Death.”  


The sound of a second voice from her right caused Anukai to whip around again, only to find the woman she had seen first to her right, also kneeling beside her.  


“You’re not me… you’re not her…” she continued, staring directly into Anukai’s eyes. “Why do I feel as if I’ve… also known you?”  


Before Anukai could respond, she blinked and the image of the dusty ground and the burnt tree were gone, replaced with a mostly dark surface lit only faintly by a silvery glow. She blinked several more times, but the image did not change, once again. As the feeling of the warm air rolled over her, once again, she quickly reached across her torso, grabbing her left arm and pinching the skin on the inside of her forearm tightly.  


She grit her teeth at the sharp pain that followed her actions and she quickly released her sharp grip, letting her arm relax across her stomach with a heavy sigh.  


“What… was all that?” she breathed, only loud enough for herself to hear.  


Several long moments passed before she rubbed at her eyes, tiredly, squeezing them shut, but the feeling of fatigue from earlier would not return. With another heavy sigh, she let her arms fall by her sides, atop her blanket, and resigned to stare at the ceiling of the alcove. After several long moments, she heard the sound of motion from beside her and she froze, instantly tensing.  


Finally, when it came to a stop a few moments later, she took a deep breath before turning her head to the left. No wild animals, monsters, or strange red-haired women appeared before her, but she could just make out Ikrie’s face faintly illuminated by the moonlight spilling in from outside.  


“Can’t sleep?” the other huntress whispered.  


Anukai sighed, noting that Ikrie’s eyes were actually open, even if only just barely.  


“I’m fine.”  


“I didn’t ask that.”  


Anukai let out a soft laugh as she shrugged, despite the darkness of the alcove.  


“Just woke up.”  


“Well why’d you do that?”  


They both laughed as Anukai shook her head, rubbing her eyes, once again.  


“Another dream?”  


“Yeah.”  


“More bad omens?”  


“No, just… more confusion.”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments before Anukai swallowed the lump in her throat just as she heard the sound of Ikrie shuffling on her bedroll.  


“Is something about what you heard at Thunder’s Drum?”  


“Maybe.”  


“Anukai…”  


“Okay, yes,” she sighed. “It… I’ve been having strange dreams… thinking about it, I think.”  


“You think?”  


Anukai shot her an admonishing look as she heard Ikrie laugh softly.  


“What’s so strange about them?”  


The redhead shrugged before propping herself up on one elbow, turning toward the other girl.  


“Just… there’s people I… don’t think I’ve ever met, in them,” she began. “One of them I think is the woman that Thunder’s Drum called me.”  


“So… it’s not, like, your secret name we’ve just never heard before?”  


Anukai rolled her eyes and let out a dismissive huff as Ikrie laughed.  


“I don’t think so, no.”  


“Okay, so… whatever that name was—”  


“Elisabet Sobeck.”  


“Yeah, that,” Ikrie continued, unphased, “is another person?”  


“I… don’t know,” the redhead sighed. “When I asked that voice at Thunder’s Drum who it was, it showed me an image in light of an older woman who looked like me, but…”  


“You’d never seen her.”  


Anukai shook her head.  


“Not until then… and now in my dreams.”  


Ikrie let out a soft “huh” sound before yawning deeply.  


“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you and—”  


“Don’t worry,” Ikrie interrupted, giving the redhead a hard look that cut through the moonlight. “Something about it was clearly bothering you.”  


“It—”  


“You were muttering in your sleep.”  


Anukai paused, her heart beat quickly beginning to pound in her ears.  


“About what?”  


“I don’t know, it just woke me up,” Ikrie shrugged. “I just… I’ve known you my whole life, and I can tell when something’s off with you.”  


A small smile tugged at Anukai’s lips as she looked away, staring down at her hands as she idly played with a pebble on the ground before her.  


“So don’t lie to me, Anukai,” she continued, her tone slightly more forceful and prompting the redhead to look up at her, once again. “Are you okay?”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments before the redhead sighed, staring down at the ground between them, once again.  


“I need answers, Ikrie.”  


The silence continued for several long moments before the other huntress sighed. Anukai’s lips pulled into a frown for a moment as she waited for the verbal lashing from Ikrie.  


“I know, and… I want you to find them.”  


Her tone sounded much more defeated than the redhead had expected.  


“And maybe, when you do,” the dark-haired girl continued, “your mind can be at some kind of peace.”  


With that, the other huntress yawned deeply and shifted her position on her bedroll, once again.  


“I’m sorry, again,” Anukai said. “Get some rest.”  


“Don’t… don’t worry about that…” Ikrie mumbled, her voice already soft and slightly slurred with heavy fatigue.  


A small smile tugged at the redhead’s lips as she laid back on her bedroll, as well, but didn’t immediately close her eyes. She continued to stare up at the rocky walls and ceiling of the alcove, listening to the rustling sounds of the trees and wildlife drifting into the rocky space and echoing around her until she found her eyelids closing involuntarily.  


Within mere moments, she had fallen fast asleep, again, although with far fewer dreams, this time.

  


  


As soon as the sun had risen over the mountains, spilling its warm, golden light over the greenery of the valley below, the two huntresses rose from their sleep and began to pack their things, also opting to quickly change into the lighter clothing they had purchased from the merchant prior to leaving the Cut. Both had purchased sleeveless, light blue tunics that also allowed them to ditch the heavy jackets they had worn out of the mountains, as well. Anukai kept the skirt portion of her outfit, however, while Ikrie opted to stow hers with her jacket, as well, leaving just the leggings in place, instead.  


“Don’t know why you of all people are choosing to wear more clothing, after your complaint last night,” she remarked, shooting a smirk at Anukai.  


“Just feels—weird—otherwise,” the redhead shrugged. “Maybe I’ll change my mind later.”  


As soon as they left the alcove that had been their shelter for the night, however, they paused amidst the trees just outside, glancing around them.  


“Any idea which way from here?” Ikrie asked, squinting against the bright sunlight.  


“I… no, not really.”  


The other huntress gave her a look with raised eyebrows and the redhead sighed.  


“We could always try to find another settlement and… ask someone.”  


“Ask them what, exactly?”  


“I don’t know, maybe… something about the woman I look like, apparently.”  


Ikrie shrugged, adjusting the straps of her bedroll over her shoulders.  


“It’s a plan, at least.”  


With a sigh, Anukai turned in place for a moment before finally coming to a stop, pointing farther along the side of the mountain they had been following the night before.  


“Looks like some kind of pass through the mountains that way,” she said. “Maybe we can find a trail that will lead us somewhere from there.”  


She and Ikrie exchanged glances before both of them shrugged and the redhead sighed.  


“It’s a start…”  


Immediately after setting out along the mountainside, Anukai found herself glancing around almost constantly at the abundance of sounds that surrounded them. The world south of the Cut was teeming with so much more obvious life than either of them were accustomed to, that it seemed almost impossible that a single mountain range separated it from the one they had known.  


As a pair of birds flew by only a yard or so above their heads, Anukai jumped slightly, but quickly heard soft laughter from beside her. As she turned to make a sarcastic quip to Ikrie about her reaction, she noticed that the girl wasn’t actually looking at her, but was staring up at the birds, a genuine smile on her face. The redhead paused for a moment, the corners of her lips pulling back in a small one of her own, before ultimately deciding to say nothing and continue on as if nothing had happened.  


Within an hour or so of setting out for the morning, the two huntresses found themselves moving along the narrower passageway between the two looming mountain ranges to either side of them, picking up a well-worn dirt trail that seemed to lead straight through the center of them. The ground quickly rose to a steep incline on either side, while the trail stuck firmly to the center of the grass, trees, and small streams that filled the miniature valley.  


While the initial warmth of the sun and the snow-less terrain had left both girls sweating the day before, the wind that whipped at them from behind, whistling between the rocky walls of the pass, brought with it a familiar bite of the cold from the Cut. Anukai found a shiver running down her spine as the wind picked up, yet again, her hands involuntarily running up and down her bare arms. When she glanced toward Ikrie, she found her mimicking similar motions, drawing a smirk from her.  


“Guess we aren’t fully out of the north, yet,” the dark-haired huntress muttered, glancing toward Anukai.  


“Guess not.”  


Their journey through the mountain pass also brought them into contact with very few machines. Those they did cross paths with barely paid them any mind as they gave wide enough berths to the Watchers and Shellwalkers, neither of them particularly looking for a fight on their way. When they finally rounded a bend in the passage, they came to a stop, both girls’ eyes locked on the large, wooden gate that stood at the narrowest point just ahead of them.  


While the gate, itself, was open, the fact that it was the first signs of other people they had encountered since leaving the Cut was enough to make them wary.  


“Friendly?” Ikrie muttered aloud.  


“Maybe,” Anukai replied. “It is open.”  


“But people don’t just put up gates for fun.”  


They exchanged glances before resuming their path toward the large portal. As they approached, Anukai continued to scan for signs of the people who inevitably guarded the portal, but no signs of motion or life immediately presented themselves. Even as they stepped through the large opening, no voices called out to them, but no arrows rained down on them, either.  


“So… a large gate… in the middle of a mountain pass… completely unguarded?” Ikrie said slowly, turning to walk backwards as she continued to scan over the large structure they had just passed.  


“Certainly seems that way.”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments before Ikrie spun on one heel, facing forward as she kept her pace beside the redhead.  


“Think it might be a more—modern—ruin?”  


A frown creased Anukai’s features as she glanced over at her companion.  


“There were stories of a large battle years ago,” the other huntress continued. “Someone had to have lost…”  


“It was farther away from here, I thought,” the redhead chimed in.  


“I mean… back in the Sheers, all of this would seem far away.”  


Anukai nodded slowly before finally shrugging.  


“Guess we press onward until we find some actual people, still.”  


They continued on the trail past the gate as the scenery began to open up, once again, the mountains quickly curving away from them and leaving the huntresses on a path that was barely distinguishable from the rest of the ground around them, the vague hints that at one time boots and carts had travelled on that particular patch of ground the only assistance they had. Not long after they had left the mountain pass for the open ground of what appeared to be the edge of a desert, they came to a fork in the partially worn path. Anukai gestured to the deviating trails and both girls came to a stop, glancing down each of them.  


“So… which way?” Ikrie asked, frowning slightly.  


“Well, that one leads farther into the… nothing,” the redhead said, gesturing vaguely at the miles and miles of open ground farther in the direction they had been going, “while this one… appears to head back toward the mountains.”  


“That way could eventually head farther south,” the dark-haired girl pointed out, gesturing in the direction they had been going.  


A moment later, Anukai caught sight of something rising above a large, freestanding rock formation ahead of them and cocked her head to the side slightly while Ikrie glanced at her in confusion.  


“What are you doing?”  


“There’s smoke.”  


“What?”  


Anukai pointed to the faintest hints of black smoke rising over the red rocks ahead of them and Ikrie followed her gesture before making a “huh” sound.  


“Could be a campfire.”  


“A really big one,” Anukai scoffed. “We’re this far away and it’s that noticeable?”  


Ikrie sighed.  


“Okay, yeah, probably not.”  


“It’s a chance that there’s real people, so… I say we go that way.”  


She glanced to the dark-haired huntress who shrugged.  


“Makes sense to me.”  


With that, they set off on the branching path, moving in parallel to the mountain range to their right. As they drew closer and closer to the rock formation and the smoke rising over it, the acrid smell of something burning grew stronger. Both girls made faces at the strong stench, glancing at each other before tentatively moving their hands closer to their weapons. When they finally rounded the large rock formation that had blocked their view of what was causing the smoke the entire time, they came to a stop.  


A settlement now interrupted the open natural scenery around them, although it was unlike any they had ever seen before. Tall, stone walls surrounded what appeared to be a small, bustling collection of wooden structures. The smoke was curling from somewhere in the center of it all, while the loud sounds of clanging metal easily carried across the open ground to them.  


“Friendly?” Ikrie asked quietly, her voice low as Anukai noted the tension in her stature.  


“Don’t have a reason to think they aren’t, yet,” the redhead replied.  


They exchanged glances before turning back to the settlement, only for the redhead to note something she had missed before. Two figures seemed to stand before the entrance, seemingly staring across the open ground at them.  


“Well, they’ve seen us,” she sighed, “but they aren’t aiming weapons at us yet.”  


“That’s… good?”  


“For now.”  


With that, Anukai took a deep breath before starting toward the walled settlement, Ikrie following soon after. As they approached the entrance, the two figures they had seen from the distance straightened up somewhat, glancing the girls up and down. They wore similar heavy, leather clothing to Varga, although theirs also seemed augmented with what appeared to be actual armor, rather than simply protection from flames and sparks.  


As the huntresses came to a stop before them, the guards gave them questioning looks.  


“We’re travelling, but a little lost,” Anukai said.  


“Not from around here, I take it?” one of the men asked, raising one eyebrow.  


“Not exactly.”  


“Looking for just directions or supplies, too?”  


“Perhaps both.”  


The two guards exchanged glances before laughing and turning back to them.  


“You don’t have to play so coy, girl,” the second guard said. “You’re both welcome here, s’long as you’re not planning to steal anything or burn the place to the ground.”  


The two huntresses exchanged glances before turning back to the guards.  


“Uh… thanks.”  


The first guard laughed, again as he offered a small bow of his head.  


“Welcome to Free Heap.”  


They stepped past the guards, passing through the open doorway into the walled settlement. Immediately, the sounds of clanging metal and shouting, along with the acrid, burning stench that had filled the air outside grew even stronger, completely enveloping them. The two girls glanced about the open ground immediately inside the settlement, noting that most of the other inhabitants wore clothing similar to Varga’s, and had similar builds.  


Several figures who clearly were not of the same tribe also milled about, some trading with the merchant stall at the far side of the open courtyard, while others sat at several long, wooden tables to the left, just outside a large, stone building that was built into the outer wall, itself. Several of the forge workers sat with them, and all of them laughed loudly, some kind of wooden mugs in hand.  


“Seems like a lively place,” Ikrie commented, leaning in toward Anukai so she could hear her over the din.  


“That it does,” the redhead replied, nodding toward the gathering of people at the tables. “Maybe some of them could help us figure out where to go.”  


They exchanged glances, once again, before shrugging and beginning to make their way toward the tables. Just as they began to approach them, a man stepped out of the stone building nearby, several more wooden mugs in hand. He seemed to notice the girls taking seats at the far end of one and made his way toward them.  


“New to Free Heap, I take it?” he asked as he approached, placing one handful of mugs on the table and sliding one to each of them.  


“Yeah, just got here,” Anukai replied, glancing down at the mug and peering into the foaming liquid inside it.  


“Well, consider this first round on me,” he said, gesturing to the mugs. “Where you two passing through to?”  


“Not sure,” the redhead replied, looking back up at him. “We’re… looking for someone.”  


“Looking for someone but you don’t know where?”  


“Something like that.”  


“Well, you might want to talk to Bragund,” he said, nodding toward one of the nearby groups of people conversing loudly. “He’s been here forever, and he remembers just about everyone who’s everyone stepped foot in Free Heap.”  


As Anukai scanned the group, she noted one man at the far side who appeared to be older than most of the others around him. He was bald but sported a beard that had been tied into a rather long braid, although the hair was still visibly grey. As she watched him, he was talking with a woman in bright Carja silks, laughing and grinning broadly as he spoke.  


“If it’s armor you’re looking for, though,” the younger man beside them said, drawing her attention back to him, “come talk to me.”  


She nodded in response and he grinned before grabbing the rest of the mugs and making his way toward a group of men and women in a mixture of clothing styles ranging from Banuk to Carja, it seemed. Anukai turned to Ikrie just as the other girl took a sip from her mug and immediately coughed, spitting out whatever amount she had managed to actually get in her mouth, nearly spraying the redhead as she did.  


“That is… _strong_ ,” she commented, wiping the back of her hand across her mouth.  


Anukai smirked, glancing down at her mug before taking a sip of it, as well. The taste was undoubtedly strong and incredibly bitter, but despite the initial, intense reaction, she managed to swallow it and take a second sip.  


“You’re insane,” Ikrie sighed, shaking her head. “For all we know that’s run-off from one of their Forges.”  


“Everyone else seems to be drinking it,” the redhead shrugged. “They haven’t died, yet.”  


“Yet.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes as Ikrie laughed, turning her mug slowly for a moment or two before sighing and looking back up at the redhead.  


“So, I take it you want to see if he knows this ‘Elisabet Sobeck’ you’ve mentioned?”  


“Exactly.”  


“What if he doesn’t know her?”  


“Then we keep moving south.”  


Ikrie nodded slowly, continuing to play with her mug without drinking from it.  


“You think wherever that… whatever it was the Shaman spoke to… is with her?”  


Anukai sighed, taking one last sip before pushing her mug away from her, the bitter taste having spread to the back of her throat and losing its potential appeal rather quickly.  


“I… all of it seems connected,” she said. “The same place that mentioned her name mentioned CYAN. There has to be a reason for that.”  


Ikrie mumbled something that was inaudible against the volume of the people and machinery around them.  


“What?”  


“Nothing,” Ikrie sighed. “So… ready to talk to—that guy?”  


Anukai studied the other girl for a moment or two before nodding.  


“Yeah.”  


They rose from their seats and began to make their way toward the group, skirting the lively portion of men and women in the leather clothing of forge workers before approaching the older man on the far side. Just as the girls reached him, the Carja woman he had been speaking to rose to her feet, nodding and smiling as the Oseram man raised his mug toward her in farewell.  


“Bragund?”  


He paused mid-drink as he turned to the huntresses, glancing them over quickly before his eyes locked on the redhead. They seemed to widen slightly as he finished his drink and lowered his mug to the table.  


“That’s me.”  


Anukai swallowed the lump in her throat that had formed under his stare before continuing.  


“We’re looking for someone.”  


“I know a lot of people, a lot of faces,” he replied, nodding slowly as he still continued to stare up at Anukai. “Yours is a very familiar one, though.”  


Both girls exchanged glances before taking seats opposite him at the table.  


“We’re looking for someone who looks like me,” Anukai said quietly, leaning forward across the table. “You’ve seen her?”  


“I have,” he said slowly.  


Anukai’s heart was pounding in her ears as she swallowed nervously, her fingers anxiously tapping on the table.  


“Her name is Elisabet Sobeck. Do you know where she was from, or where she went?”  


Confusion creased Bragund’s face and the redhead instantly felt her heart sink into her stomach.  


“That wasn’t the name I knew her by,” he said, shaking his head, “but she still bore an incredible likeness to you.”  


Anukai’s face contorted in confusion, as well, as she glanced to Ikrie, only to find her with an unreadable expression.  


“Her name was Aloy, I believe.”  


Anukai’s eyes widened, the image of the strange woman made of light from her dream flashing before her eyes. She whirled back to the Oseram man, leaning in slightly, once again.  


“Do you know where she is? Where she came from? Where she went? Anything?”  


“At the time she was passing through to elsewhere,” the older man said, nodding slowly, “to where I can’t remember. She’s passed through several times… seemed to have friends here and all over. I can’t remember where she ended after all of them, but I know she bared the indications of a Nora.”  


Anukai’s fingers began to tap on the table even quicker as she cleared her throat.  


“She was Nora, you said?”  


“Aye, that she seemed to be… mostly,” he nodded. “Is she your mother?”  


The redhead’s anxious motion stopped instantly as her jaw clenched tightly.  


“I don’t know.”  


They continued to stare at each other for several long moments before the older Oseram nodded slowly.  


“They say finding someone who looks like you is either great luck… or a great omen,” he said quietly. “I wish you find it the former.”  


Anukai gave a curt nod and quickly muttered thanks before rising form her seat, Ikrie scrambling to follow after her. The redhead immediately made for the exit of the settlement, only stopping once the other huntress caught up to her and pulled on her arm, turning her around.  


“Wait,” the dark-haired girl huffed as they came to a stop. “We’re just running off to Nora lands, now?”  


“You heard him.”  


“You don’t think they might be more than a little— _concerned_ —at seeing someone who looks exactly like one of their own, if that man’s right?”  


Anukai’s teeth ground as her jaw worked tensely.  


“We have to find out.”  


Ikrie stared up at her for several long moments before letting out a heavy sigh, releasing the redhead’s arm from her grasp.  


“So we head east?”  


The guards gave them strange looks as they exited Free Heap, but one of them did offer a farewell which they returned with quick waves before setting out along the trail they had taken when they first arrived. Once they turned onto the trail that led back toward the gate, Ikrie cleared her throat, prompting the redhead to glance over at her.  


“So now there’s another name we’re looking for?”  


“Sounds like it,” Anukai sighed.  


“This… is seeming much more complicated, already,” the dark-haired girl said.  


“I know, but…”  


Anukai came to an abrupt stop, prompting her companion to skid to a halt a few steps later and backtrack to her.  


“This was an actual person who recognized me,” she began, “not some… mountain or strange light. That feels more… _real_ to me.”  


She looked to Ikrie, seemingly for confirmation, and the dark-haired girl nodded.  


“I do agree, I just… worry, somewhat.”  


Confusion creased Anuaki’s face.  


“Worry? About what?”  


“I worry that… you won’t like what you find,” she said softly.  


The redhead’s lips drew into a thin line as she braced her hands on her hips, kicking at a small rock by her right foot.  


“I… the thought has occurred to me, too.”  


She glanced up at the other girl as she felt her hand on her arm to find Ikrie giving her a small smile.  


“That’s why we’re both here, though,” she said. “Just in case.”  


Anukai returned her smile, nodding slowly.  


“Right.”  


With one last, gentle squeeze, Ikrie released her arm and glanced up toward the sky.  


“The sun and the warmth isn’t too bad, either.”  


They both laughed as they resumed their path along the trail, passing through the large, wooden gate they had seen earlier and into the green of the valley at the base of the mountain range, once again. By the time the sun had just passed the midday mark, they found themselves treading new ground, finally. The path they had been following seemed even more difficult to follow as they headed deeper into the trees and grasslands of the valley, but regardless, they pressed on.  


The entire journey, the girls stare enraptured at the motion and color around them, both still amazed at the difference from the bleak whites and greys of the Cut and farther north. As they crested a small hill, Anukai happened to glance to her left before pulling a double take and grabbing Ikrie, bringing her to a stop, as well. The other girl jumped in surprise, whirling around on high alert, but the redhead simply pointed into the distance. As she followed her gesture, she also fell still.  


An ancient tower stretched into the sky, looming over the trees before them. Its main structure was built of twisted, rusted metal, although moss, wild grass, and what even seemed to be small trees jutted from the numerous holes in the side of it. As their gazes travelled toward the base of it, both girls quickly realized that there appeared to be an entire settlement of ancient, metal buildings, but none quite as tall as the tower they had seen.  


“Ruins of the Old Ones…” Anukai breathed.  


“They’re… so much different than the ones we’ve seen,” Ikrie added. “More… metal.”  


Finally, the girls forced themselves to tear their gazes away from the scene and continue onward, but each still found themselves glancing back at the metallic monolith every once in a while, until they completed a curve in the path that placed a portion of a mountain range between them, blocking their sight-line.  


As the sun finally began to grow closer to the horizon, the girls found themselves cresting another hill, only to reveal yet another ancient settlement in the valley before them. While Anukai’s curiosity begged her to venture into this settlement, Ikrie’s insistence that they make camp for the night won out. Once they had laid out their bedrolls and started a small fire, the girls finally came to a stop for what seemed to be the first time that day, each of them barely speaking as their eyelids grew heavy.  


Anukai found herself fast asleep before she could even remember if the fire had gone out, but the next thing she knew, she was blinking awake against the bright sunlight and staring at a cold, ashen pile of logs. With a groan, she stretched at the tension in her muscles, each movement feeling like she were breaking off pieces of ice, even despite the warmer temperatures. Finally, she rose to a sitting position, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. When she glanced at the bedroll beside her, she froze, however.  


Ikrie’s bedroll was empty.  


She quickly spun in place, rising to a kneeling position as she grabbed her bow and quiver from nearby.  


“Ikrie?” she called, her voice raspy from fatigue.  


When no response came, she rose to her feet, attaching her quiver to her belt before drawing an arrow and holding it ready against her bowstring. The redhead slowly moved over to the other bedroll, glancing around it for any signs of what might have happened. There were no bloodstains or signs of struggle, thankfully, but no other clues, either. All of Ikrie’s possessions were otherwise still beside her bedroll, as they had been the night before.  


“Didn’t take her weapons…”  


The redhead noted what appeared to be footprints in the dew-coated grass nearby, and so she began to follow their general path. As she crested the top of the small hill beside their camp, she heard the sounds of motion from behind a large boulder ahead, and she instantly dropped into a crouch, holding her bow at the ready.  


As she drew closer, the shuffling sounds seemed to draw nearer, as well, but they didn’t quite have the same weight or metallic clanking as a machine. Finally, when they seemed just about to round the boulder, the redhead drew her arrow, dropping to a kneeling position. A moment later, a figure appeared around the rock, immediately jumping and letting out a yelp of surprise as the sight of the huntress with her weapon drawn.  


“Anukai!”  


The redhead relaxed her grip on the bow slightly before realizing that the figure was actually Ikrie, who was now holding her hands defensively before her. Heat began to build in her cheeks as she fully lowered her weapon, sighing heavily. The other huntress finally lowered her hands, as well, and continued on her path toward her.  


“I’m sorry,” Anukai sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “I just woke up and you were gone, so…”  


“It’s okay,” the other huntress laughed, reaching her. “I just had to—you know—relieve myself. Didn’t expect a full search party, though.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes as Ikrie punched her shoulder playfully.  


“It’s nice to know you were so worried, though.”  


The two of them returned to the camp, even as Anukai felt the pervasive heat in her face from the embarrassment of nearly shooting her companion refusing to abate. Once they returned, they quickly packed their things and scattered the remnants of the campfire.  


“So… we’ve been walking all this way, but haven’t seen a single Nora settlement,” Ikrie sighed, adjusting her belt slightly. “Think we’re still going the right way?”  


“Well, that path we’ve been following can’t just lead to nowhere,” Anukai shrugged. “I say we give it another day going this way and if we still don’t… well, maybe we change tactics.”  


Ikrie nodded in response before gesturing in the direction they had been heading the day before.  


“Lead on.”  


The trip around the ancient settlement took a good part of the morning, as it was much larger than they had first believed, and a herd of Grazers forced them to take an even longer detour than they had planned. Finally, though, they found themselves at the base of one of the mountain ranges that formed the walls of the valley, where Ikrie suddenly brought them to a halt.  


“Look.”  


She gestured to a much more well-worn path that seemed to lead up the side of the mountain in a winding, twisting pattern. Both girls followed its path until Anukai’s eyes widened slightly.  


“There’s a settlement.”  


“What?”  


She pointed to the top of what appeared to be a small mesa jutting from the edge of the mountainside, where what appeared to be a wooden wall made of logs banded together was just visible over the rocky ledge.  


“Damn, that’s really well hidden,” Ikrie sighed. “Think anyone’s there?”  


“One way to find out.”  


Anukai quickly stepped onto the winding path and began to lead the way toward the settlement above. As they drew closer, the sounds of people and life, in general, began to reach them, and both girls exchanged glances, but pressed onward. Finally, when they reached the top of the trail, they came to a stop at the opposite side of a wooden bridge that extended from the small, rocky peak they had reached to the actual entrance of the settlement.  


Immediately on the far side of the wooden bridge, however, stood two guards in full Nora armor and armed with spears. They appeared to be sizing up the two girls, but they did not hold their weapons at the ready.  


“Friendly?” Ikrie whispered.  


“They’re Nora, so… maybe,” Anukai sighed. “Guess we’ll find out.”  


With that, she began to lead the way across the bridge, walking much slower than she had before. When they reached the far side, the guards shifted their positions, prompting them to stop.  


“Outlanders, state your business here,” one of them said.  


“We’re looking for someone.”  


The guards exchanged glances before turning back to them.  


“Who?”  


“She… goes by the name of Aloy.”  


Both guards immediately straightened up, becoming much more focused on Anukai.  


“How do you know her?”  


“I… don’t,” the redhead continued, “but that’s why I need to find her.”  


The guards exchanged glances, once again, before the one on the left cleared his throat.  


“She’s not here, outlander.”  


Anukai’s heart began to sink as she swallowed the hard lump that had instantly formed in her throat.  


“You should go to the Main Embrace Gate.”  


Her disappointment was quickly replaced with confusion as she glanced between the two guards.  


“A gate? Why?”  


“It’s the entrance to the Embrace, a sacred valley of the Nora,” the guard on the right explained. “Speak with the Matriarchs.”  


“Is she… one of them?”  


The guards shook their heads.  


“No, but… they will likely wish to speak with you, if Aloy is who you seek.”  


Anukai glanced toward Ikrie, but she looked as confused as she felt.  


“Which way do we go?”  


“Farther east,” the guard on the left said, pointing down into the valley below them. “Round the end of this mountain range. You will find it at the end of the path you entered from.”  


The two girls exchanged brief glances, once again, before nodding and offering their thanks. As soon as they had moved out of earshot and begun their descent to the valley below, once again, Ikrie moved closer to the redhead, speaking softly.  


“I feel as if we aren’t supposed to know that name.”  


“I’m feeling like we’re the only ones who _don’t_ know that name.”  


When they finally reached the valley, once again, they continued along the path they had followed, as the guard instructed. Soon after passing the other side of the settlement above them, however, the path suddenly became much more worn and easy to discern, with the ground having been worn down to bare dirt from the countless feet that had travelled it.  


The walk to the curve at the end of the mountain range took longer than they had initially believed, leaving the sun already halfway between its midday height and the horizon by the time they reached a small stream that forced the path to bend. As they rounded the rocky base of the mountains, they quickly found themselves facing another wooden gate, although this one was even larger than the one they had passed near Free Heap.  


Unlike the previous gate, as well, this one appeared to be well-guarded.  


Almost immediately, the Nora guards took notice of the girls below and those on duty before the gate, itself, quickly stood at the ready, spears held at their sides.  


“I’m really feeling welcome,” Ikrie quipped, her stature growing noticeably tense.  


Anukai said nothing, but took a deep breath before continuing forward confidently. When she reached the end of a short, wooden bridge, she came to a stop, one of the Nora guards stepping forward to meet her.  


“By the goddess…” he muttered as he looked her up and down.  


“I’m looking for Aloy,” she began, keeping her jaw squared and her posture squared as he approached. “I was told to come here to speak to the Matriarchs—”  


“You—looking for Aloy?” the guard interrupted, confusion creasing his face.  


“Y-yes…”  


He continued to stare back at her for several long moments before shaking his head, closing his eyes tightly.  


“By the goddess… Raith, summon the War Chief!”  


Anukai immediately grew tense, one hand subtly positioning itself closer to her hunting knife.  


A moment later, the sounds of the heavy wooden gate creaking open prompted both her and the Nora guard to glance toward it. A moment later, another figure appeared through the opening, striding quickly toward them. He was dressed slightly differently than the other Nora around him, with a heavy boarskin cloak draped over one shoulder of the standard armor the rest wore. The sides of his head were shaved, with the hair in the center intricately braided and tied behind him.  


The last thing Anukai noted as he approached was a splash of blue that covered one eye, stretching from just above his eyebrow to the center of his cheek.  


Confusion was evident on his face as he approached.  


“Aloy? By the goddess, no… you couldn’t be…”  


The redhead swallowed the heavy lump in her throat as the new man came to a stop beside the guard.  


“I’m Anukai,” she said slowly. “I’ve come seeking Aloy. I—”  


“Is she your mother?”  


She blinked at the suddenness of his question, but quickly shook her head.  


“No, I… I don’t know.”  


“How do you know her name, if you are not her daughter?”  


“I was told it in a settlement called Free Heap.”  


The new man continued to contemplate her, his jaw working tensely.  


“You are Banuk.”  


“I am.”  


Finally, he shook his head, much like the guard had done earlier.  


“I think you should speak with the Matriarchs, as well,” he muttered. “Come with me. This… this is something beyond my understanding.”  


Anukai glanced to Ikrie before clearing her throat.  


“Why do I need to speak with them?” she asked, not moving to follow him.  


“They commune closely with All Mother,” he replied, coming to a stop as he glanced back. “I think we may need such a consult.”  


“But why?”  


He opened his mouth to speak, but instead let out a heavy sigh before returning to her, coming to a stop only a few feet away.  


“I am inclined to think that I am not the one to have your answers.”  


“But they will?”  


“I believe they will have the best hope of having them.”  


Anukai glanced to Ikrie, yet again, who was attempting to keep a blank expression, but the redhead could clearly see the unease beneath the façade. Finally, she took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before nodding, turning back to the man as he returned the gesture.  


“Come. Follow me.”  


With that, the man turned and began walking toward the gate, not waiting to confirm if they were following. Anukai and Ikrie glanced to the guard before them, but he simply stepped aside, gesturing for them to pass, which they quickly obliged. As they passed through the group of guards before the gate, their murmuring and stares did not go unnoticed, but Anukai tried to keep her attention focused on the back of the man they were following.  


As they stepped through the gate, itself, they quickly found themselves amidst even more guards, all of whom stared at the redhead with the same surprised, confused expressions as their compatriots. The man stepped past them, unfazed, while two guards broke from the group and began to follow behind him, glancing back to make sure the girls were following, as well. The huntresses quickened their pace to catch up to the man’s long strides, and before long they had left the gate and the murmuring and the stares well behind them.  


The girls glanced around the scenery as they followed another well-worn trail through the valley, taking in the bustling settlement they passed soon after. A few of the Nora who stood closest to the path stared like the guards had, clearly talking amongst themselves, but none of them approached nor called out.  


Soon after they had left the settlement behind, they found themselves in the open grasslands of the valley, once again. In the distance, Watchers patrolled a hillside as Striders idly grazed behind them, their large, blue eyes glancing in their direction but seeming to pay no mind as they remained at a distance.  


The silence that had permeated the walk thus far had begun to grow increasingly stifling and uncomfortable as the two huntresses exchanged glances but said nothing. Every time Anukai thought of saying something or asking a question, she stifled it, clenching her jaw tightly as she glanced around at something else in the scenery.  


The man leading the way suddenly took a sharp turn onto another path to their left, glancing back at the girls for the first time since they had left the gate.  


“This way. We’re almost to Mother’s Watch, now.”  


“Mother’s Watch?”  


“A village. The Matriarchs will be there.”  


The thought of entering an entire village of people staring and murmuring about her made Anukai squirm, but she pressed on after the Nora guards and the man who she had presumed at this point to be the War Chief they had mentioned. After only a few more minutes of walking, they found themselves quickly approaching a large wall made of tree trunks partially buried in the ground and banded together with ropes. A large gate sat in the center of it, with several Nora guards standing atop the wall on either side of it, bows held loosely at their sides.  


Unlike the large gate they had entered earlier, this one stood open.  


“Guess they don’t have to worry so much about their own people,” Ikrie muttered, breaking their silence for the first time since they had begun walking.  


“You’d hope not…”  


As they approached the gate, the guards atop it called out to the man leading them and he waved in greeting. A moment later, they seemed to notice Anukai and began to stare with the same expression as the other Nora they had passed so far.  


“And so it begins…”  


The man didn’t stop or slow down as he passed through the gate, prompting the girls to follow suit and step into the courtyard beyond with only a moment to prepare themselves. Immediately, the crowds of people milling about the open ground inside the gate was reminiscent of the settlements in the Cut, although many of the people that moved about them now didn’t appear to be hunters. There were numerous women with their children, merchants with their wares, and elders who seemed to simply be conversing with each other, mainly.  


Many of the Nora about them paid them no mind as they passed, however a large number also pulled double takes and began to mutter amongst themselves. The phrase “by the goddess” was clearly audible among many of the voices, and it sent a shiver down Anukai’s spine repeatedly.  


Finally, though, the man led them out of the rear of the courtyard and onto a path that began to ascend the mountainside against which the settlement was built. Logs had been partially embedded into the ground at times to provide easy footholds, while large archways made of similar wood constructions as the perimeter fence and gate spanned the pathway at regular intervals. Finally, they reached the top of the path and found that it had led them to a small clearing on a small patch of level ground jutting from the side of the mountain.  


As the girls glanced up at the rest of the mountain looming over them, their eyes fixated on the frozen corpse of a massive machine, its spindly arms half-buried in the rock and ice.  


“The same as the one in the mountain just outside the Cut,” Ikrie breathed.  


Anukai simply nodded, but forced herself to tear her eyes away from it to focus on the man that had been guiding them so far. As she did, she found him standing before a strange opening in the side of the mountain, itself. At first glance, she thought it was a cave simply carved into the rock, however as she approached, she realized that it stretched much farther back than she first thought, and sloped downward at a rather severe angle.  


“…would want to speak with her,” the man was saying as she approached and came to a stop several yards away.  


The woman he was speaking to glanced past him toward Anukai, scanning over her with her eyes, only, before nodding and turning back to the man.  


“I do, as well. Wait here.”  


With that, the woman disappeared into the opening, quickly stepping out of view as she descended the sharp slope.  


“This is a sacred place for the Nora,” the man said, turning back to Anukai. “The High Matriarchs will speak with you, however one of them must give the blessing for you to enter.”  


The redhead shifted uncomfortably but nodded.  


“You truly have not met Aloy, though?”  


Anukai shook her head and the man simply let out a quiet “huh” but said nothing else. Several long minutes stretched by in silence before the sounds of footsteps echoed from within the mountain. The small party all turned toward them just as a new figure appeared from the darkened interior.  


She immediately came to a stop as she stared Anukai up and down, prompting the huntress to straighten her posture under her gaze. The woman was clearly an elder of the Nora, with her hair showing mostly gray among the intricate braids, although hints of a dark brown were just barely visible within it, as well. Her face bore the lines around her lips and eyes of a woman who had seen many years, however her eyes still burned with the sharpness of a huntress years younger.  


“Mala was not lying,” she said, finally closing the last few yards to approach the group. “You’re the one who seeks Aloy.”  


It was more of a statement than a question, but Anukai nodded, anyway. The High Matriarch’s eyes scanned her, once again, before she let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head.  


“In all my years, I thought I had seen and understood many of All Mother’s ways,” she began, “but yet I am reminded that I cannot hope to ever know them all.”  


Anukai swallowed nervously before taking a deep breath.  


“I need to find Aloy. I… know she looks like me—”  


“You are an exact image as I remember her the day she barely survived the Proving,” the Matriarch interrupted, nodding slowly. “Come, I feel there is much we need to discuss.”  


“Is she here?” Anukai asked insistently, taking a step forward as she did.  


The Matriarch raised her eyebrows slightly as a smirk twisted her lips.  


“You bear the same spirit, too,” she said quietly, before addressing Anukai directly. “She is not, but I believe I know where you will find her.”  


“Can you tell me?”  


“In time,” she replied, nodding. “There are things we should discuss… that are not for certain ears.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she noted how the Matriarch glanced at the Nora guards who had accompanied them on their trek from the gate.  


“Come, both of you,” she insisted, gesturing to Anukai and Ikrie. “Thank you, Varl.”  


The War Chief nodded in acknowledgement before stepping aside so the girls could pass. The Matriarch quickly turned and began to enter the mountain, once again, also without waiting to see if they would follow. Finally, Anukai let out a heavy sigh and began to enter the mountain opening after her, glancing over to see Ikrie beside her.  


As soon as they stepped past the rocky opening, they came to a stop, however.  


Their eyes scanned over the walls of metal, lit by the soft orange glow of numerous candles lining each side of the rather wide passageway. They glanced to each other for a moment before following after the elder Nora much more apprehensively. As they reached the bottom of the rather steep incline, they came to a stop before a large, metal door.  


“This place is not for all Nora to see,” the elder woman began, even as she approached the right side of the door, “and particularly not for outlanders, however… I sense you are not just any outlander.”  


The Nora waved her hand over a particular section of the door, prompting a strange chime that was nearly identical to the sounds they had heard within Thunder’s Drum. A moment later, the large door slid aside, revealing yet another section of the metal passageway. The haze of smoke was even thicker in this section, as an even greater number of candles lined the walls and even some wooden constructions clearly built by the Nora.  


What drew Anukai’s attention the most, though, was the even larger door at the far end of the room, along with the metal claw from the ancient machine half-buried in the mountain dangling from an opening in the ceiling.  


“Come.”  


She glanced back down at the Matriarch as she entered the room, leading the girls toward two other figures they had missed initially. They appeared to be two other Matriarchs, based on their similar clothing and hair styles as the woman they had been following, and each of them stared at Anukai with the same expressions as the Nora outside.  


“By the goddess…” one of them muttered, “she… she truly seems to be her.”  


“Sisters,” the first Matriarch began, coming to a stop before them and glancing back toward Anukai as she slowly entered the room Ikrie in tow, “Varl has brought this girl from the Main Embrace Gate. She arrived asking for Aloy.”  


“But how is that possible?” the third Matriarch asked. “She _is_ her!”  


“She cannot be,” the second Matriarch replied, shaking her head. “She is too young.”  


“She has been in the presence of the All Mother, perhaps—”  


“You have seen Aloy in recent memory,” the first Matriarch interrupted. “She had aged as any person does. This girl… may be from All Mother, herself.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as the Matriarchs all turned to her.  


“Forgive us,” the woman they had followed into the mountain began, “your presence is… confusing at its best, and concerning at its worst. What is your name, girl?”  


Anukai swallowed the lump in her throat as she came to a stop in the center of the large room.  


“Anukai.”  


“Anukai,” the Matriarch repeated, nodding slowly. “My name is Sona, and these are my Sisters, Elana and Nakai.”  


The other women nodded in greeting as Anukai glanced over them. Elana was a shorter woman with hair that still retained its dark color, although it also had been fashioned into long braids that hung past her shoulders. She bore a large scar along her right cheek, stretching from her jaw to the corner of her eye, while the iris of said eye seemed somewhat clouded, itself.  


Nakai was tall, although she stood noticeably favoring her left leg, while her right hand firmly grasped a wooden cane. Her face bore the most lines and wrinkles of the three women, although her neutral expression seemed to be the most relaxed.  


All three women wore similar, heavy fur robes and intricate headpieces, although each seemed to display their own unique color scheme and patterns.  


“You wear Banuk clothing,” Elana began, scanning over Anukai, once again. “Do you come from their lands?”  


“I am Banuk, yes,” she replied, nodding. “I was raised in the Sheers.”  


“She is Banuk? How can that be so?” she asked, glancing to the others.  


“You forget, Sister,” Sona replied, “the All Mother herself told that she existed beyond these lands.”  


“And yet you know of Aloy?”  


Anukai opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated at the last moment, swallowing nervously before replying.  


“Y-yes, I have heard her name and… that we look alike.”  


The three Matriarchs muttered amongst themselves for a moment as Anukai glanced about the room, noting that Ikrie had paced toward a raised platform on the far side, her gaze locked on the large door before it.  


“She and Aloy share the same face,” she heard one of the Matriarchs whisper slightly louder than the others. “Are they perhaps both sent by All Mother for a particular purpose?”  


“Do you remember when Aloy arrived, then?” one of the others responded, her tone nearly a hiss.  


“She saved the Nora.”  


“From a threat that did not exist until she arrived.”  


Anukai whirled toward them, prompting the women to jump in surprise.  


“Aloy was not from here, either?”  


The women exchanged glances before Sona sighed.  


“Aloy… came from All Mother,” she began. “She was found… here.”  


Confusion still creased Anukai’s face as Sona pointed toward the platform near Ikrie.  


“In the mountain. Many believed her to be a curse, however…”  


“She saved the Nora?”  


The Matriarchs nodded.  


“If another is here,” Nakai said, “then perhaps there is yet another impending threat to our people.”  


“We do not know this,” Sona replied, shaking her head.  


As they began to mutter amongst themselves, once again, a loud voice suddenly echoed about the room, prompting everyone, including Anukai, to jump.  


“Hold for identiscan.”  


The redhead’s eyes widened as she whirled toward the platform to find Ikrie backing away from the center of it, seemingly haven ascended the short set of stairs while no one was paying attention. Almost immediately, the same red light as had appeared in Thunder’s Drum shot from a point just above the door, sweeping over the dark-haired huntress as she recoiled with a yelp. As soon as the light had reached her feet, she quickly ran her hands over herself, much like Anukai had before, and glanced back at the redhead.  


“Genetic identity not confirmed. Access denied.”  


Anukai quickly moved over to the platform, hopping the short set of stairs in two strides before placing a hand on Ikrie’s shoulder.  


“You okay?”  


“Fine… I think…” she said. “It… it’s just like—”  


“Thunder’s Drum,” Anukai finished, nodding.  


“Do you think…?”  


The redhead’s lips pulled into a thin line as she glanced toward the large door.  


“Only one way to find out.”  


“What are you doing?” one of the Matriarchs called out from behind them, but Anukai ignored her, stepping forward into the center of the platform.  


Almost immediately, the red light appeared at the top, once again, as the strange voice rang out in the cavernous room.  


“Hold for identiscan.”  


Her heart rate continued to accelerate as the red light passed over her, sending a shiver down her spine. As it did, the device beside her ear suddenly sprung to life, casting an image of light in the air before her. The box that had appeared now showed the same image of the older woman who looked so much like her, along with a strange, twisting design with some glyphs beside it.  


“Genetic identity confirmed. Facility lock in place. Verbal access authorization required.”  


The voice fell silent, but the light had not entirely disappeared, along with the strange box her device now projected before her. After a few moments of silence, Anukai cleared her throat.  


“Elisabet Sobeck. Open.”  


Several more moments of silence followed before she took a deep breath, speaking louder.  


“Elisabet Sobeck. Open the door.”  


Total silence followed, once again, only increasing her heart rate as she stepped forward, even closer to the door.  


“Elisabet Sobeck. Open this door, now!”  


Suddenly, a strange chime sounded throughout the room and she froze in place.  


“Processing.”  


A few moments of silence passed before the same chime sounded once again, the strange voice following immediately afterward.  


“Access for Elisabet Sobeck, Alpha Prime, confirmed. Access granted. Please stand clear of the door.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh.


	4. Bloodline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday. Everything's back to normal; I finished everything for this chapter in time for my usual upload this week.
> 
> So this chapter is where things may get a little odd if you've never read my previous series, [Living Systems](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1218735). If you've read that already, then enjoy the tension. If you haven't, I still maintain that you can keep reading, there's just some things you may have to roll with for a little longer before they make total sense.
> 
> Anyway, with that out of the way, it's time to see what's in the mountain.
> 
> Although "what" may be the wrong question...

With a loud, metallic clunk, the center portion of the door began to recede into the floor, while the outer portions around the triangular shape began to pull back into the surrounding frame. As they moved aside, a blast of wind blew across the open platform, prompting Anukai to squint and raise one hand to protect her eyes. Once it had subsided, she lowered her hand, staring into the strange, blue glow that radiated from the large portal.  


“It is true, she is also of the All Mother!”  


She jumped at the sound of the voice and glanced back to find the three Matriarchs had drawn closer to the platform, but it seemed they did not dare join the huntresses on it.  


“Only Aloy has been able to open the door before,” Nakai said.  


“She… it opened for her?” Anukai asked insistently.  


“Indeed, it did,” Sona replied, nodding. “It is a realm of All Mother, a place that no Nora, other than Aloy herself, has entered.”  


“Why not?”  


“The door has not opened for anyone else,” she said, “but it is also not our place to.”  


Anukai’s jaw worked tensely as she turned back to the open doorway, the temptation of the unknown gnawing at her willpower and pushing aside the part of her that warned of being cautious. Finally, with a deep breath, she glanced to Ikrie.  


“Let’s go.”  


Ikrie nodded slowly, still staring into the opening as if in a daze.  


“Are you okay?”  


“Blue Light, Anukai…”  


Her brow knit in confusion as she glanced back to the doorway, only for the realization of the color of the light that now bathed them from within the strange realm beyond to hit her. With a deep breath, she glanced to Ikrie, yet again, holding one hand toward her. The other huntress finally seemed to break out of her daze as she glanced down and grabbed the redhead’s hand. They each squeezed the other’s tightly in their grasp before releasing their grip and moving toward the opening.  


The Matriarchs said nothing as they approached, leaving the only sound as their footsteps on the metal platform echoing about the large room. When they finally stepped through the frame of the strange doorway, the sounds of the metal workings in the door came to life behind them, once again.  


Within only a few seconds, the door had closed with a heavy clunk, leaving them in the strange light of the space beyond it. Both girls slowly stepped forward, turning in place as they took in the walls of metal around them.  


“It’s even more like Thunder’s Drum…” Ikrie said softly.  


“Abandoned?”  


Their gazes met as the dark-haired huntress visibly swallowed.  


“Yeah… but… something’s different here.”  


Anukai nodded, glancing around as she noted the strange blue and purple lights that appeared over certain parts of the world around her, and she frowned, tapping the side of the device beside her ear. As she did, the web of lines and glyphs appeared around her, and her frown deepened. When she tapped the device, again, the web disappeared, but the lights did not.  


“What’s wrong?”  


“Nothing wrong, just…”  


Anukai pulled the device away from her ear, instantly finding herself plunged back into the semi-darkness of the space with only the faint blue light that filled the entryway from overhead remaining. A shiver ran down her spine as she slid the device back into place beside her ear.  


“I think it’s showing me something, again.”  


The redhead glanced between the two doorways that immediately presented themselves in the entryway, the one to the left seemingly leading to another hallway, while the one to the right appeared to open into a dark void. Anukai stepped over to the one on the right, leaning into the space and glancing around, only to realize that it was some kind of rectangular shaft that ended shortly below her, but stretched well into the darkness overhead.  


With a sigh, she stepped away from the opening, turning back to Ikrie and shaking her head as the other girl looked to her expectantly.  


“Dead end.”  


Anukai led the way toward the doorway across the room, pausing in it for a moment to take a deep breath before stepping through it and onto the short set of stairs beyond. As they descended, the redhead’s attention was quickly drawn to the drawings on the wall to her left. They were almost reminiscent of the rock paintings from Banuk lands, but somewhat more primitive and… childish. She slowly ran her fingers along one just as she heard Ikrie let out a sharp gasp from beside her and she whirled around to find the other girl recoiling from the other side of the hallway.  


“What is it?”  


“L-look…”  


Anukai followed Ikrie’s gaze in confusion before her eyes suddenly widened and she, too, let out a gasp. The wall on the right side of what she had thought was a hallway was only just above waist-high, while the top portion was simply open air that looked over an enormous, darkened room beyond. Anukai’s feet seemed to carry her to the half-wall in a daze, her eyes transfixed by the blue lights glowing from below. Immediately below the walkway where she stood was the first of many circling levels descending into a dark void below, it seemed. The walkway was lit by the faint blue light emanating from many squares of light, each placed before a metal chair.  


A moment later, the redhead sensed something beside her and glanced over to find Ikrie had stepped beside her, also entranced by the lights below.  


“What are all those things down there?” she asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper.  


“Chairs, it seems,” Anukai replied. “There’s… a lot of light down there.”  


“Really?”  


The redhead nodded, pulling the device from beside her ear and holding it toward Ikrie. The other girl stared down at it for several long moments before shaking her head.  


“I… I still think it may not be for me to see.”  


Anukai frowned slightly, but slipped the device back beside her ear, bringing the lights to life, once again.  


“We should still see what they are,” she said, nodding farther along the walkway. “Come on, let’s keep moving and see if we can find a way down.”  


They continued along the curved walkway until they came to the first of several large doorways set into the wall to their left. Glancing inside the room, they found that it was almost entirely pitch black, save for one glowing light that came from a strange, cylindrical construction several yards into the space. A shiver ran down Anukai’s spine at the sight of it and she quickly turned away, moving toward the next door and leaving Ikrie to catch up.  


“We’re not going to see what that is?”  


“No,” the redhead said quickly before pausing, taking a slow, deep breath. “I… had a bad feeling.”  


A look of concern crossed Ikrie’s face, but she didn’t press further. As they came to the next door on the left, they found that the room beyond was slightly better illuminated than the last. The faint lighting from somewhere above revealed a largely empty room with several large, glass walls set into the far corners of the space. In the middle of the open floor before the one on the right, however, Anukai could just make out what appeared to be an assortment of tables, with some kind of clutter atop them.  


“So… we going in this one?”  


Anukai swallowed the lump that had appeared in her throat and nodded, slowly taking the first few steps into the space. As she crossed the open space between the door and the tables she had seen, the hair on the back of her neck stood up straight and she felt another shiver run down her spine. She slowly turned in place, arms tensed to reach for her bow at a moment’s notice, but she couldn’t make out any motion other than herself and Ikrie amidst the large, darkened space.  


When they finally reached the tables, they came to a stop, staring down at them in confusion. They appeared to be primarily covered in machine pieces, almost as if someone had stripped them and had been refining them into their even more base components, but as Anukai picked one of them up, she frowned slightly.  


“These are… recent, almost,” she remarked.  


“What do you mean?” Ikrie asked, stepping closer and squinting at the piece in the darkness.  


“They don’t seem entirely… ancient,” she explained. “It’s like… I don’t know… like someone’s been here… recently.”  


“They did say this Aloy person we’ve been looking for came in here,” the other girl offered. “Could have been her.”  


Anukai remained silent for several moments as she seemed to weigh the component in her hand.  


“Could be…”  


She placed it back on the table before turning her attention to the one to her right, where a cloth had been draped across a great portion of it. The redhead slid over to it, grabbing the top portion of the off-white fabric and lifting it free of the table. Almost as soon as it had been pulled free, she leapt backward, a yelp of surprise escaping her as she involuntarily released the cloth.  


“What? What’s wrong?”  


Anukai continued to stare at the humanoid shape on the bench, her heart pounding in her ears and her voice uncooperative. When Ikrie stepped closer, she also recoiled, instantly reaching for something on her belt.  


“Of snow and fury… w-what… is that?!”  


The redhead finally seemed to bring her body under control, once again, allowing her to step closer. The shape had not moved on the table, nor had it seemed to react in any way to their presence and voices so far. When she finally reached the table, once again, she swallowed thickly before looking more closely at what lay on the table. At first glance, it almost seemed like a corpse missing its lower half, although after a moment or two she realized that it was made distinctively out of metal, not blood and bone.  


The face of the supposed figure was neutral and human enough, but it seemed to lack any real features that would make it feel truly like a real person. Its eyes were left open, however, staring unblinkingly at the ceiling.  


“It’s… a machine.”  


“What?!”  


The sound of cautious footsteps came from behind her and Anukai glanced back to see Ikrie approaching slowly, her hand still firmly held to something on her belt. As she reached the table beside the redhead, she glanced past her to inspect the strange machine-man, once again.  


“You’re right…” she breathed. “It’s… made of metal.”  


“It must be ancient.”  


“Why do you say that?”  


“Have you seen a machine that looks like a human before?”  


Ikrie frowned slightly but shook her head.  


“Exactly.”  


Anukai moved around the end of the table, noting that the top of the machine’s skull had been broken open, and a great deal of the wires and components that must have once occupied it had been removed.  


“It’s been stripped for parts,” the redhead remarked.  


“Okay… but why?”  


“Ancient relics sell very well,” she shrugged. “Maybe this Aloy was looking to make a profit.”  


“Something tells me you don’t entirely believe that.”  


Anukai sighed, straightening up as she shook her head.  


“No, I don’t.”  


As the redhead went to turn away from the table, her foot hit something metallic and she stopped, glancing down. What appeared to be a metal foot lay beside her boot, and she carefully followed the leg it was attached to until she found another of the strange machine-men on the ground behind her. Her gaze swept over the ground nearby as she began to notice that there were actually several of the strange machines littered about the space, all in varying states of stripped-down disrepair.  


A strong shiver ran down Anukai’s spine and she cleared her throat, turning away from them.  


“Come on, let’s keep exploring… somewhere else.”  


Ikrie nodded, but continued to stare down at the machine-man on the table until the redhead stood beside her, tugging on her tunic until the girl finally turned away and followed her out of the room. As they continued along the walkway in the main room, they found one or two more of the large rooms, however these appeared to be almost entirely empty, save for ancient debris.  


When they finally reached the end of the walkway, they found an open doorway that was surrounded by drawings and paintings on the walls, as well as the floor. Although the glyphs used in some of them were unfamiliar, the general message was clear.  


“Someone really didn’t like this door,” the redhead said, frowning.  


“But why? It’s… just a door.”  


“It’s open now, but maybe… it wasn’t for them?”  


Ikrie nodded slowly, not looking entirely convinced.  


“Onward?”  


The dark-haired huntress turned to Anukai gesturing to the doorway.  


“You first.”  


The redhead rolled her eyes, but stepped forward, striding quickly through the door and descending the stairs beyond. As she reached the bottom, she turned back to look for Ikrie, who had followed less quickly and confidently.  


“I thought you said it was just a door?”  


The dark-haired girl shot her an admonishing look and hurried down the stairs after her, coming to a stop with a huff.  


“It’s not the door that bothers me, it’s what’s beyond it,” she chided.  


“Well, that’s exactly why we’re here, so…” Anukai replied, shrugging.  


They continued onward along the lower walkway, moving slowly between the rows of strange, metal stations with a single chair before them. Anukai stared at the strange, blue squares of light above each one as they passed, noting the same combination of glyphs in the center of them.  


“There’s… something written on each of these,” she said, drawing Ikrie’s attention.  


“Yeah? What is it?”  


“Some kind of glyph… like… a name maybe?”  


“An ancient tribe, maybe?”  


“Maybe…”  


Anukai raised one hand to tap the side of the device by her ear, bringing the web of lines and glyphs to life around her. As soon as she did, a circle appeared over the nearest station, filling quickly with a green light before it suddenly flashed and disappeared. The next thing she knew, a figure made of blue and purple light had suddenly appeared before her, standing in the center of the walkway.  


The redhead jumped backward with a yelp of surprise as the figure began to speak.  


“Hello, child. My name is Samina.”  


“What happened?”  


Anukai quickly glanced between Ikrie and the strange figure, only half-listening to both as they tried to talk at the same time.  


“Today is a big day…”  


“You look as if you’re seeing a ghost…”  


“There’s so much for you to learn…”  


“Is it showing something else to you?”  


“So much promise and possibility—”  


“Anukai?”  


Suddenly, both voices stopped as another, stranger voice echoed about the large room.  


“Alert. Malfunction. APOLLO offline.”  


Finally, when silence had fallen over the room for several long moments, Anukai reached toward the device at her ear, tapping it to close the web of light around her and allowing her to focus on Ikrie, who was just looking back down at the redhead from glancing up at the darkness above them.  


“What… was that?”  


“I saw… another figure… made of light,” Anukai said slowly. “She… spoke… called me ‘child.’”  


“Was she the woman you’ve been looking for?”  


“No,” the redhead shook her head. “She was different, but… there’s something familiar about her… deep down.”  


Ikrie nodded slowly, visibly swallowing.  


“Did that have anything to do with the voice that just spoke?”  


“Maybe…”  


“Something’s… offline?” the dark-haired girl said. “That doesn’t sound good.”  


“No, probably not.”  


With a sigh, Anukai rubbed her eyes tiredly.  


“There has to be more here. Something that… explains who this Aloy is… or Elisabet Sobeck.”  


Silence fell over the girls for several long moments before Ikrie took a deep breath, letting out a heavy sigh shortly after.  


“Well, so we continue on.”  


The redhead nodded slowly, bracing her hands on her hips as she glanced around the room. Finally, her eyes came to rest on a large, glass wall that overlooked the rows of metal stations where they stood, more lights just barely visible beyond it.  


“That room looks important.”  


She nodded toward the glass, prompting Ikrie to nod, as well.  


“How do we get in?”  


Anukai followed the short stairway leading from a door on the right side of the glass with her eyes before quickly motioning for the other girl to follow her.  


“It’s right at the end of this, come on!”  


She took off at a jog toward the end of the curved walkway, Ikrie scrambling to catch up a few moments later. When she reached the foot of the stairs, she quickly took them two at a time before coming to a stop before the doorway, itself. The door was open, like the previous one, but this time she could just make out portions of the door protruding from the frame, as if it had not been fully opened before becoming stuck.  


Swallowing the lump that had appeared in her throat, Anukai stepped into the room, quickly glancing around as one hand gripped the bowstring across her torso, just in case. The room beyond the doorway appeared in a similar state as the rest of the ruin they had seen thus far, although there appeared to be slightly more projections of light in this particular space, each one hovering over more metal stations, much like the ones in Thunder’s Drum.  


The portion of the room to their left, however, appeared to be much more open, with the rounded wall of glass taking up most of it. Just before it, however, was a large, circular metal plate in the floor. Several feet away, and seemingly connected by a piece of the metal plating that made up the circle, stood a short, metal tower with a glowing symbol in light hovering over it.  


“It’s a lot darker in here,” Ikrie muttered from beside the redhead, turning slowly in place as she took in the room.  


“There’s a lot of—light—in here,” Anukai replied, gesturing to the device by her ear.  


“Well… so…” the dark-haired huntress said slowly, “is any of it useful?”  


“Not sure yet, maybe if I try…”  


As the redhead approached the short, metal tower, something made her instantly freeze in her tracks. Her eyes quickly jumped from the symbol in light above the metal construction to scan the darker half of the room.  


“Uh… why’d you—?”  


“Shhh!” Anukai hissed, holding a hand out toward Ikrie.  


The other huntress instantly fell silent as the redhead continued to scan the back corners of the room, desperately trying to discern something amidst the darkness.  


“We’re not alone…”  


She slowly began to back toward Ikrie, drawing her bow from over her shoulders and instantly nocking an arrow to it. Once she had almost reached the other girl, the sound that had prompted her to freeze, initially, came again. It sounded like a heavy footfall, but… with a metallic hint to it. Images of the partially deconstructed machine-man flashed before the redhead’s eyes but she quickly blinked them away, instead holding her bow at a half-drawn position.  


“You heard that… right?” Ikrie whispered as Anukai closed the last foot or two toward her.  


The redhead nodded, and both girls fell silent.  


The sound came again, but this time it seemed to have drawn closer. Anukai instantly lifted her bow to a fully-drawn position, aiming into the darkness while continuing to scan across it with her eyes.  


“So…”  


The sound of a new voice caused Anukai to freeze in place, her eyes wide as her heart pounded loudly in her ears.  


“You came back.”  


The tip of her arrow swayed slightly as her hands began to shake, although not from exertion. Suddenly, the slightest hint of motion appeared from the right side of the room and she whirled toward it, holding the arrowhead as steady as she could.  


“Show yourself!”  


A long pause followed her command before the hint of motion came again, along with the sound of slow footfalls. Finally, the motion began to turn into a silhouette of a figure as they began to emerge from the darkness.  


“And you had the gall to bring her back with you, too…”  


“Who are you?! Step out where I can see you!”  


The silhouette paused, once again, as a deep silence fell over the room. Finally, the other voice spoke, but this time in a much more hushed tone.  


“Something’s different…”  


The silhouette began to move again, the sound of footsteps drawing nearer growing even louder as Anukai redoubled her grip on her bow. Finally, the figure stepped far enough from the darkness to enter the strip of light cast through the open doorway where the two huntresses had entered moments ago.  


As the image of the figure was revealed, Anukai nearly dropped her bow, her eyes widening as her mouth hung open slightly.  


The figure standing before them was all too familiar.  


It was her own face, but—older—and not portrayed as a projection of light.  


“H-how…? You…” the huntress spluttered.  


“You know me?”  


Finally, Anukai seemed to bring her voice back under control just long enough to utter two words.  


“Elisabet Sobeck.”  


The older redhead across from them raised her eyebrows slightly in response, an expression of surprise crossing her features before it turned to one of curiosity.  


“You… are not who I thought you were,” she said slowly. “You’re… too young.”  


The younger redhead remained silent, staring in a numb, shocked trance at the physical presence of the woman that part of her had refused to believe had even existed at one point in time.  


“Who are you?”  


After several seconds of silence, the huntress blinked rapidly, closing her mouth as she swallowed the heavy lump in her throat.  


“A—”  


“Don’t!” Ikrie hissed, interrupting her. “We don’t know— _what_ —she is.”  


The older redhead across from them bore an unreadable expression as she turned her attention to Ikrie, scanning her over with just her eyes slowly.  


“You’re not Talanah…”  


The redhead’s eyes turned back to Anukai as she felt a shiver run down her spine.  


“And you weren’t about to say you were Aloy, I take it.”  


The redhead involuntarily perked up at the mention of the name, which only seemed to provide an answer to the other’s inquiry.  


“But you’ve heard of her.”  


“We came here looking for her.”  


The other redhead nodded slowly before letting out a short, low laugh.  


“Well, you found Elisabet Sobeck, instead.”  


Ikrie shot Anukai an apprehensive glance, refusing to lower her sling.  


“So if you’re not Aloy, who are you?”  


The red-haired huntress glanced over at her companion, whose eyes seemed to be pleading her to heed her warning from earlier, but she simply closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before turning back to the other redhead.  


“My name is Anukai.”  


“Anukai… and you’re… _another_ …?”  


“Who are you?” the red-haired huntress pressed more insistently. “Not just—your name… and why do you look like me? A-and why do places like this call me your name?”  


The other redhead laughed softly, nodding slowly.  


“It’s… a complicated story,” she began, “but I can tell you if you’re interested.”  


“Please.”  


Elisabet recoiled slightly at the insistency of her tone, but a grin quickly spread across her features.  


“Okay then.”  


The older redhead began to move closer to the two huntresses, Anukai watching her with rapt attention while Ikrie kept her sling half-raised, her expression conflicted.  


“I’m sure if you entered here, you’ve at least spoken to the Nora outside,” the older redhead began, “and I’m sure they’ve mentioned the All Mother and have been more than a little confused by your appearance. Well, there is some slight truth to all that.”  


The younger redhead’s face contorted in confusion as Elisabet began to pace closer to them, now well within the slightly more well-lit portion of the room.  


“There is a sort of—important bloodline—of which I am the first, and that Aloy is a part of… and now seemingly, so are you.”  


Anukai swallowed the hard lump in her throat as she continued to watch the older redhead pace before her, also noting how the clothes she wore seemed to be a strange mix of styles she had never seen along with some more similar to what she had seen the Carja outlanders wearing in the Cut, with blues, reds, and yellows constituting most of it, although it was showing signs that it was becoming rather worse for wear. The colors, themselves, were muted, seemingly due to dirt, and the edges of multiple pieces were obviously frayed, and certain sections even appeared to be pulling apart, entirely.  


“This bloodline… this lineage… gives us, its members, the abilities to access places like this one. You see… we have a particular purpose, and Aloy knew this. She had a purpose, a destiny if you will, to fix these places, and in turn… the world.”  


Elisabet stopped her pacing and turned toward Anukai, who still looked to her with the expression of a child listening to an elder’s story.  


“If you’re here now, though, that must mean that something has happened to her… that she has not completed this purpose.”  


“To—fix—the world?”  


The older redhead nodded.  


“But… why does it need to be fixed?”  


Something unreadable flashed across the older woman’s eyes for a moment before she sighed heavily.  


“I’m sure you know that everyone alive today—yourself, your… friend, here…” she eyed Ikrie with an unreadable look, “and everyone you’ve ever known—they are not the first people to inhabit this world.”  


“The Old Ones, I know,” the younger redhead nodded, “but… they died out and we’re here today.”  


“Just barely,” Elisabet interjected, raising her eyebrows. “There have been… many missteps along the way, and although you may not see it just by stepping outside and looking around, the world has been on the verge of a collapse ever since it first came back to life after the fall of the Old Ones.”  


Anukai glanced toward Ikrie, who still wore a dubious expression, but had lowered her weapon to a resting position. The redhead noted, however, that she had not entirely holstered it, though.  


“That’s where we come in, though.”  


Anukai turned back to Elisabet as the older redhead began to pace, again.  


“I was tasked with trying to bring the world back after the Old Ones… make the world anew.”  


“As… just a single person?”  


“It wasn’t only me,” she replied, shaking her head, “I worked with the goddess… helped her, taught her of the world…”  


“I’ve… heard a lot about this ‘goddess’ since entering the Nora lands,” Anukai said, slowly shaking her head. “I feel like she and the Blue Light must have something in common.”  


Elisabet stopped her pacing, turning to the younger redhead with a curious expression.  


“The Blue Light?”  


Anukai nodded.  


“We—the Banuk—believe that the Blue Light resides in the machines, and thus is the purest essence of life,” the redhead explained. “We don’t have a sole figure who is associated with it, but… I’ve seen figures made of light, through this.”  


She pulled the metal device from beside her ear, holding it for Elisabet to see. The older redhead tilted her head slightly as she stared at the device.  


“Have you always had that Focus?”  


“Focus?”  


Anukai turned the device over in her fingers for a moment or two before shaking her head.  


“I found it recently… inside a mountain that looked like this place.”  


The older redhead let out a “huh,” turning her attention back to Anukai, herself, as she slipped the device beside her ear.  


“That device is called a Focus,” she said. “As you may have seen already, it allows you to see things beyond what your eyes normally can.”  


Anukai nodded, tapping the side of the device to clear the web of light around her, but not before catching a glimpse of something overlaid over the image of Elisabet before her.  


“Wait… this… it shows… blue light… in you?” she said slowly.  


Ikrie instantly stiffened as Elisabet adjusted her position under the younger redhead’s stare.  


“There is a particular reason I was the first in our lineage,” she said slowly.  


Suddenly, a flash of blue appeared over her irises and both girls recoiled with surprised gasps.  


“You may be right about the goddess and the Blue Light sharing a link,” the older redhead said, smirking.  


“Y-you… Anukai… it’s… it’s… _in_ … her?” Ikrie stammered, moving closer to the younger redhead.  


“It’s… not supposed to be able to remain in a person,” Anukai said softly. “If it does… then you…”  


“Are not like most people?” Elisabet finished, her smirk deepening.  


Anukai swallowed the heavy lump that had appeared in her throat, glancing toward Ikrie before turning back to the older redhead.  


“Does that mean… it’s within me?”  


“Perhaps,” the older redhead sighed. “It was not necessarily within Aloy, however she could certainly communicate with it, channel it, and use it.”  


The younger redhead quickly perked up at her statement, keeping Elisabet’s smirk firmly in place.  


“How? Can you show me?”  


“In time, yes,” the older redhead said. “You will need to know some before we seek Aloy… and confront her.”  


Anukai’s eager expression was suddenly tempered by confusion as she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.  


“Confront her?”  


“She had a purpose, like I told you,” Elisabet continued, nodding, “but she’s abandoned it… abandoned—me.”  


The redhead shifted uncomfortably as a shiver ran down her spine.  


“She stole the means of communicating with the goddess, of controlling the light,” she continued. “We will need them back if we are to finish what I began years ago.”  


Anukai felt something bump her arm and she glanced over to find Ikrie standing to her right, her arm almost touching hers.  


“Anukai…”  


The redhead raised her eyebrows as the dark-haired girl turned to her, the dubious expression on her face once again.  


“Finding this place was one thing… but this…?”  


“What is your name?”  


Both girls jumped slightly as they turned back to Elisabet to find that she had stepped closer, now standing only a few feet away and looking to the dark-haired huntress with an unreadable expression on her face. The huntresses remained silent for several long moments before Anukai cleared her throat, sensing that her companion would not respond for herself.  


“This is Ikrie.”  


Elisabet nodded slowly, repeating her name softly.  


“You seem… nervous, Ikrie.”  


The huntress stiffened beside Anukai, her hands clenching into fists at her sides.  


“I-I—”  


“It’s okay,” Elisabet said quickly, raising her hands defensively. “I understand this can be a lot to experience at once.”  


The huntress shifted uncomfortably as Elisabet slowly lowered her hands.  


“But Anukai will need your help.”  


Ikrie stiffened for a moment before clearing her throat.  


“She will?”  


Elisabet nodded.  


“This task is not something a single person can hope to succeed in on their own, no matter their skills or lineage.”  


The two huntresses exchanged glances, Anukai trying her best to give Ikrie a beseeching look without saying anything. The other girl stared back at her, her dark brown eyes searching the redhead’s hazel with a wide-eyed expression for several moments before she slowly closed them, breathing deeply through her nose.  


“I promised you I’d come with…”  


Anukai offered a small smile, placing a hand on the other huntress’s shoulder and squeezing it tightly for a moment. Finally, they turned back to Elisabet as she let her hand fall by her side, once again.  


“How do we begin?”  


A smile cracked Elisabet’s features, although Anukai noted that something different seemed to pass through her eyes for a brief moment before it disappeared, once again.  


“This place has been dormant for years, now,” the older redhead said, taking a few steps away as she raised her arms to indicate the general space around them. “Let’s see if you can bring it to life, once again.”  


Anukai swallowed nervously as she shifted her position.  


“How?”  


“Place your hand on here,” Elisabet said, gesturing to the small metal tower she had seen when entering, “and repeat after me.”  


The younger redhead stepped forward, approaching the tower while Ikrie hung back. As Anukai stepped around the tower, she found a small, black square attached to the top of it, its surface smooth like the finest wind-worn ice. Elisabet nodded toward the square and Anukai hesitantly held her hand toward it. With a deep breath, she finally pressed her palm against its surface.  


The smooth surface was cold to the touch, but the resulting chime that sounded throughout the room immediately after her skin had made contact caused her to jump and nearly pull her hand away.  


“Interfacing initiated,” a strange voice boomed around them. “Facility is currently in lockdown. Identiscan confirms identity as Elisabet Sobeck. Please state rank and authorization to reset.”  


“It… it thinks I’m you,” Anukai said softly, glancing to the older redhead.  


“It will, because it has no knowledge of you, yet,” the older redhead nodded. “Now, repeat after me: Alpha Prime.”  


“Alpha Prime.”  


“Release ELEUTHIA override, protocol one.”  


Anukai paused for a moment, swallowing the lump in her throat before speaking.  


“Release ELEUTHIA override, protocol one.”  


Another strange chime sounded throughout the room immediately after she had spoken.  


“Voice authorization confirmed. ELEUTHIA override successful, releasing lockdown protocol one.”  


Immediately, a distant, low sound began to build, prompting Anukai to quickly pull her hand away from the tower, her heart pounding in her ears.  


“W-what… what happened?”  


“You did it,” Elisabet said softly, laughing. “You did it.”  


Anukai’s face still only registered confusion before a heavy clunking sound echoed through the doorway. Ikrie instantly spun around, first turning to the door before quickly glancing toward the large, glass wall. A gasp escaped her as she stepped to it, looking down at something in the large, circular room outside.  


“What is it?” Anukai called, moving around the short tower toward her.  


Just as she stepped onto the circle of metal in the center of the floor, the world around her seemed to explode in light and she jumped, whirling in place. Bright, white lights now shown from the ceiling overhead, burning away the darkness that had permeated the space since they had arrived. In its wake, the metal world around them was easily revealed.  


As she had suspected, almost every surface in the room was made of metal, although a great deal of rock formations and even some moss had begun to take over certain sections. Even more projections of light began to come to life over the metal benches along the walls, revealing scrolling glyphs and images that passed faster than Anukai could comprehend them.  


Finally, she turned back to Elisabet to find her grinning broadly, but remaining a few feet away. The younger redhead found herself almost more surprised that the woman remained in the light than by the sudden appearance of the light, itself. As she glanced her over, once again, the feeling that she was somehow even more real came over her and a shiver ran down her spine.  


“So… does this mean I passed the first trial?”  


Elisabet laughed, nodding.  


“I suppose so.”  


With a grin, Anukai turned back to Ikrie to find her turned away from the glass wall, instead staring back at her with an awestruck expression. The redhead moved over to her, glancing out the glass wall to find the rest of the facility had been illuminated, as well, revealing that while the main room did continue several levels below the one they had seen already, it was not quite the bottomless pit she had first thought.  


As she turned to the huntress beside her, she found that the girl’s expression had not waned.  


“You okay?”  


Ikrie blinked in response, before quickly shaking her head and seemingly snapping out of her daze.  


“I thought I knew you after all these years, but…”  


“I didn’t know this about myself,” Anukai shrugged. “I’m feeling the same as you are, right now.”  


The dark-haired huntress laughed softly as they turned back to the center of the room to find Elisabet standing beside a larger metal bench to their left, her hand held over it and her eyes closed.  


“Is everything okay?”  


The older redhead didn’t respond, leading to Anukai clearing her throat and repeating herself even louder.  


“Is everything okay?”  


When the other woman still didn’t respond, the huntresses glanced to each other nervously.  


“Elisabet?”  


Suddenly, the redhead inhaled sharply, prompting both girls to jump in surprise. Her eyes slowly slid open, revealing the fading traces of a blue glow from her irises, before she slowly pulled her hand away from the bench, curling her hand into a loose fist before releasing it.  


“Sorry, I… never mind,” she said, shaking her head before turning back to the girls. “Good job, Anukai. It’s nice to finally see this place brought to life, once again.”  


“Why was it—not—before?”  


Elisabet sighed.  


“I had no reason to,” she said. “Without what Aloy took, there’s little use to be found here.”  


Anukai raised her eyebrows slightly, shifting her position.  


“So we go elsewhere?”  


Elisabet smirked, nodding.  


“Precisely.”  


Anukai glanced to Ikrie, who seemed as intrigued as she felt.  


“After Aloy?”  


“Yes,” Elisabet said, her jaw clenching for a moment. “We need what she took.”  


Silence fell over them for several moments before Elisabet cleared her throat, breaking Anukai out of her daze.  


“So… shall we?” she said, nodding toward the door out of the room.  


“Wait,” the younger redhead said, holding one hand out toward her as she turned to leave, but paused, “one more thing… everyone I’ve met around here keeps saying I look like Aloy, too…”  


Elisabet sighed, turning back to the younger redhead and stepping toward her.  


“You do, very much so,” she said, “but consider this preparation.”  


The older redhead tentatively reached toward Anukai’s shoulder, but seemed to think better of it and instead let her arm fall to her side, once again.  


“I have every faith in you, though,” Elisabet continued. “Come on… the world won’t wait forever.”  


With that, the older redhead turned to make her way toward the door out of the room, although Anukai and Ikrie lagged behind for a moment. They both exchanged glances before the dark-haired huntress gave her a small nod and a smile. The redhead returned it before taking a deep breath and starting after Elisabet.  


Their walk through the rows of strange, metal benches and back through the heavily-painted doorway passed in near total silence. When they reached the door into the larger room where they had found the machine-men earlier, the two huntresses paused, glancing in to find that there were more than either of them had seen or believed earlier, their metallic bodies littered about the floor behind the benches.  


“Servitors.”  


They both jumped at the sound of Elisabet’s voice from beside them, glancing over to find she had doubled back and was standing in the doorway, as well, her eyes locked on the machines.  


“What are they, exactly?”  


“Ancient machines,” she sighed, turning to Anukai. “They were designed by the Old Ones to help in their lives. They could watch your home, raise your children… whatever you needed them to do.”  


The girls glanced back into the room, once again, scanning over the still frames of the metal bodies strewn about the floor.  


“I couldn’t get them working, again,” Elisabet continued, “no matter how hard I tried.”  


With that, the sound of her footsteps moving farther along the walkway came from beside them, although neither girl turned to follow immediately. Anukai’s eyes were still locked on the machine-man on the bench, the cloth that had once covered it thrown aside from her investigation earlier. Finally, with a deep breath in through her nose, she glanced to Ikrie.  


“Shame.”  


Both girls quickly jogged to catch up to Elisabet just as she ascended the steps to the entryway just inside the massive door. At the top, she glanced back to make sure they were following before leading the way toward the door, itself.  


“I’m assuming you were escorted to this door by the Nora?” she said, moving toward the left side of the massive portal.  


“Their Matriarchs led us here,” Anukai confirmed, nodding.  


“Well, we should be prepared that they are likely still waiting,” Elisabet sighed. “I will try to explain to them. I have had some experience with the Nora, despite having not met a Banuk before.”  


The two huntresses exchanged glances just before Elisabet twisted her hand over a circle projected in blue light, the red portion at the top spinning rapidly before the entire design turned green and a familiar chime sounded. The heavy sounds of the machinery in the door coming to life filled the space as the triangular portion in the center began to sink into the floor, the remaining portions around it receding into the circular structure around it, as well.  


Once the portal had fully opened, Elisabet glanced back at the two huntresses and sighed heavily.  


“Here we go.”  


With that, the three of them stepped through the opening and onto the metal platform before it. As Elisabet had predicted, the three Matriarchs still remained on the lowered portion of the floor, all of them turned expectantly toward the opening. As they caught sight of the two redheads beside each other, their faces registered utter shock and Elana physically recoiled.  


“It… no, it cannot be Aloy!” she cried.  


“I am not, no,” Elisabet began, shaking her head as she approached the edge of the platform, “however as you have surely met Anukai, you must know that we are of the same lineage.”  


“Three women, all from All Mother,” the Nora Matriarch muttered, her face pale as she continued to glance between Elisabet and Anukai.  


“Yes,” Elisabet nodded, descending the short set of stairs to the lowered floor of the chamber. “My name is Elisabet. I am from before Aloy.”  


She came to a stop before the three women, glancing between each of them as the two huntresses slowly approached from behind.  


“I am the First Daughter of the All Mother.”  


The Matriarchs murmured amongst themselves for several moments before finally turning back to the redhead.  


“This cannot be a harbinger of good will,” Nakai said, “if now three women descended from the All Mother have arrived in Nora lands.”  


“Unfortunately, it is not,” Elisabet replied, shaking her head. “The world is in much more of a dire state than I, or Aloy, first thought.”  


The Matriarchs recoiled in shock, Elana grasping at a beaded necklace at her throat and murmuring indecipherable phrases beneath her breath.  


“But if she has arrived,” Sona began, gesturing to Anukai, “and summoned you… your strength together grows, does it not?”  


“It does,” Elisabet replied, glancing over at Anukai with an unreadable expression. “We must seek Aloy, however.”  


The general sounds of agreement came from the Matriarchs as the two redheads turned back to them.  


“Do you know where we may find her?”  


“She does not reside within Nora lands,” Sona replied, shaking her head. “You will likely find her in the Carja capital of Meridian.”  


“Meridian?” Elisabet repeated, raising her eyebrows. “Do you know why she resides there?”  


“She has ever since she left with the All Mother, stating that there was much to be done to heal the world,” Sona continued.  


“Left with the—?” the older redhead began to mutter but caught herself at the last moment as Anukai noted how her hands clenched into fists at her sides for a moment before relaxing. “I see. We will go to Meridian, then.”  


“So it must be done,” the Matriarch agreed, nodding as she turned to the other two beside her. “Sisters, we must inform the tribe and give our blessing to these daughters for their journey.”  


The other two muttered what appeared to be their agreement before Sona turned back to the redheads and Ikrie.  


“Come, we will show you out of the mountain, and Varl will make sure you are set and on your way for your journey.”  


Elisabet’s eyebrows raised at the War Chief’s name, but she said nothing, and instead glanced to Anukai and gestured after the Matriarchs as they began to move toward the incline leading up and out of the mountain. The walk up the metal incline passed without another word, although their footsteps rang about the interior of the passageway with a great deal of cacophony. Finally, when they stepped from the entrance and into the late afternoon sunlight, Anukai found herself blinking against the sudden and drastic change in brightness.  


“By the goddess… Aloy?”  


When she was finally able to see, once again, without her eyes feeling as if they were burning, she found the War Chief standing several yards away, his eyes fixed on Elisabet.  


“I’m not her,” the older redhead said, shaking her head. “Much like Anukai, here, we’re related, but I came before her.”  


The armored man shook his head, as if coming out of a daze, and rubbed his eyes tiredly.  


“Varl, they will be heading to Meridian,” Sona began, stepping closer to him, “to seek Aloy. Make sure they are well-supplied on their way.”  


A strange expression crossed his face for a moment, but he nodded.  


“We will escort you into Mother’s Watch, where we will give the blessing before the Nora,” Nakai said, turning to the three outsiders.  


They simply nodded, Anukai unsure of what else to say, and began to follow the small party of Nora down the mountain trail into the settlement. When they reached the courtyard they had passed through earlier, the Nora milling about quickly began to gather as they noticed the Matriarchs at the front of the group.  


“Nora faithful, we ask that you join us as we offer a blessing to two daughters of the All Mother!”  


Anukai shifted uncomfortably under the stares of the gathered Nora, who appeared even more intrigued than they had the first time. Once the crowd before them had grown to a rather considerable size, the Matriarchs raised their hands, bringing the entire assembly to silence.  


“The two women you see before you are not Aloy, however they are still daughters of the All Mother,” Sona began. “They come to us with a message that the world has not been fully healed, and they have an important purpose to do so. They will venture beyond the Sacred Lands, as Aloy has before, to seek her and complete the divine purpose. Together, the three of them will grow by the strength of each. Nora faithful, please join us in prayer, seeking the All Mother’s protection and watch over these women!”  


A murmur passed through the gathered Nora, however as the Matriarchs began to recite some form of prayer, the crowd joined in, repeating after the elder women at particular moments and joining them in unison as it came to a close. Finally, the Matriarchs turned to the two redheads and approached them, once again.  


“May the goddess protect on your journey,” Elana began.  


“May you find that which you seek,” Nakai continued.  


“May you return safely in the protecting hands of the All Mother,” Sona finished.  


The two redheads exchanged glances before nodding their thanks.  


“Go with Varl, he will make sure you have the provisions you need for the journey to Meridian,” Sona said, gesturing to the War Chief standing a few yards away.  


The party muttered their thanks to the Matriarchs before slipping aside to follow Varl through the slowly disbursing crowd. When they reached the far side of the courtyard, they came to a stop before a small wooden cabin, where multiple wicker baskets full of what appeared to be primarily ammunition sat beside its front door.  


A moment later, a Nora man with long, blonde hair tied into a bun shape atop his head hurried over, skidding to a stop before the women.  


“Apologies,” he panted, somewhat breathless. “Looking for supplies?”  


They nodded and Varl informed him of the Matriarchs wishes. The man nodded, gesturing to the various baskets beside him.  


“Let me know what you need.”  


Several minutes later, loaded with a bow, some ammunition, and a bedroll for Elisabet, more supplies for crafting healing salves, protective elixirs for all of them, and even some dried meat from another nearby merchant, the women gathered at the gate of the settlement, where Varl and several other Braves awaited them.  


“Nightfall will be soon,” Varl said, “are you sure you wish to start for Meridian now?”  


“We can’t afford to wait,” Elisabet replied, shaking her head. “Thank you, though.”  


Varl nodded, but remained silent for a moment as his gaze alternated between Elisabet and Anukai. Finally, he let out a heavy sigh, shifting his position somewhat.  


“We’ll escort you back to the Main Embrace Gate.”  


The women nodded and they quickly set on their way, the Braves setting a rather fast pace almost immediately. While it was anything but a leisurely walk through the Nora lands as the sun began to set, they did reach the gate, itself, with plenty of daylight to spare. The War Chief and his party of Braves bid them farewell as they passed through the gate, the heavy wooden portal slowly closing behind them as they stepped onto the dirt path beyond.  


Once they reached the curve in the path around the foot of the mountain range the girls had followed earlier, the sounds of the closing gate in the distance finally faded, leaving the party in silence, other than slowing sounds of nature around them as the world seemed to slow in the fading light.  


“We’ll need to make camp, at some point,” Anukai finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the group.  


“Right,” Ikrie added, nodding.  


Elisabet glanced to them for a moment before nodding.  


“I understand,” she said. “You girls have had a long day.”  


“You could say that…” Anukai quipped, laughing dryly.  


Despite the brief conversation, the women pressed on until the sun had firmly sunk below the mountains, leaving only the dying oranges and pinks of the sunset as the only light that staved off the inky darkness. Anukai and Ikrie noted a place off the trail set against the side of the mountain range to their left, leading the way to the small sheltered space against the side of a larger boulder.  


Almost as soon as her bedroll and travelling supplies hit the ground, Ikrie stated she would look for firewood and headed into the trees on the opposite side of the path, leaving the two redheads alone. Anukai stared after her for a moment before turning to Elisabet, her lips drawn into a thin line.  


“She’s not mad at you,” Elisabet said softly, smirking. “Just overwhelmed, I think.”  


“She’s never been like this,” Anukai sighed.  


“Have you ever entered an ancient mountain, met a strange woman who looks like you, and been told that you have a purpose to serve the entire world before?”  


The younger redhead’s lips pulled into an even tighter line as Elisabet laughed.  


“I didn’t think so.”  


Anukai set about gathering small rocks to set into a circle for the campfire, but found them quicker than she had anticipated, and soon found herself sitting on her bedroll, her arms wrapped around her knees as she stared blankly at the vacant ground waiting for the fire.  


“You two were raised together?”  


She jumped at the sound of Elisabet’s voice, turning her gaze to find her sitting cross-legged on her own bedroll to the left.  


“Not by the same parents,” Anukai replied, shaking her head, “but we’ve known each other for as long as we can remember.”  


The older redhead nodded slowly.  


“You two have a bond,” she said softly. “It’s obvious.”  


“When we set out on our own,” Anukai continued, “we decided we’d make our own werak.”  


“A werak?”  


“Like… a smaller tribe within the larger Banuk tribe,” the younger redhead shrugged.  


“So… like a family?”  


Anukai opened her mouth to retort, but found herself hesitating, and finally closing it, once again, swallowing the lump in her throat.  


“You said you found your Focus in a mountain like the one we left,” Elisabet continued, changing the subject. “Where was this mountain?”  


“In Banuk lands,” the younger redhead said, seemingly eager for the shift in conversation. “In the region just north of here, called the Cut.”  


“Did you find anything else there?”  


“A world of metal, but… it was all long dark,” Anukai frowned. “Part of it spoke to me like the door in the Nora mountain did… called me your name, and then after I found this…”  


She gestured to the device beside her ear.  


“It showed me figures made of light.”  


“Did they say anything?”  


Anukai frowned.  


“Something about stopping an eruption.”  


Confusion creased Elisabet’s face as she recoiled slightly.  


“An eruption?”  


Anukai nodded.  


“And something about—something—called CYAN.”  


“CYAN?” Elisabet immediately repeated, staring vacantly at the empty campfire for a moment, as well. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time…”  


“You know what it means?”  


“I knew what it was, at one time,” Elisabet nodded. “It was… similar to the goddess I’ve mentioned, but… it worked toward a singular purpose, as it seems you heard.”  


“Stopping an eruption?”  


The older redhead nodded.  


“An eruption of what?”  


“Beneath a certain part of the land lies a massive natural structure called a volcano,” she explained. “Essentially it’s a large pit of boiling, liquid rock that at times can forcefully erupt out of the ground if the right combination of factors is achieved, causing massive levels of destruction.”  


Anukai nodded slowly, her face blank but the color notably drained from it.  


“Now you’re starting to see why our purpose is so important.”  


“A bit.”  


Just then, Ikrie appeared across the dirt path, carrying an armful of dry twigs and small branches, dropping them on the ground before the stone circle Anukai had made. They quickly set about making the fire, and once its warm glow had settled over them, Ikrie sat on her bedroll across the fire from Anukai, sighing.  


“How far is Meridian from here?” she asked, reaching for the pouch of dried meat they had purchased earlier.  


“A considerable ways,” Elisabet sighed. “Depending on the pace set, it may take another day or two.”  


“It’s days away?” Anukai replied, eyes widening.  


“Meridian is deep into the desert south of here,” the older redhead nodded.  


“You’ve been there?” Ikrie asked, passing the pouch to Elisabet, who in turn immediately passed it to Anukai.  


“Once or twice,” she nodded. “Enough to know where it is, at least.”  


“I’ve heard it’s massive,” the younger redhead chimed in, “with tons of people all crowded into it.”  


“It’s certainly bigger than any Nora village,” Elisabet said. “I don’t know much about Banuk settlements, though.”  


“Other than Ban-Ur, there’s mainly smaller camps and settlements,” Anukai shrugged. “We’re a travelling people. We go where the hunt takes us.”  


Elisabet regarded her with a strange, half-smirk for a moment before laughing softly.  


“Then it sounds like you’re well-suited for the journey ahead.”  


The small fire quickly began to die out, but as Anukai found her eyelids already beginning to droop, she opted to not throw any of the other twigs onto it. When she finally laid down on her bedroll, pulling the blanket over herself, the world had firmly fallen under the silver haze of moonlight. With one last yawn, she closed her eyes and quickly found herself drifting off into sleep.  


Within moments, she found herself falling through snow-coated memories of childhood in the Sheers, learning to hunt, taking part in the trials to become a full member of the tribe, and eventually making the pact with Ikrie to become the Snow Ghosts. Suddenly, after the image of Ikrie’s grin faded from before her, she found herself standing in another snowy scene, but something immediately felt different.  


She glanced around to see that she was at the top of a rather steep mountain slope, but as soon as she tried to turn in place, something caught on her feet and she fell forward, landing on her knees with a surprised yelp. As she looked down to see what had tripped her, she found that her feet seemed bound to some kind of plank by metal contraptions, and she quickly tried to shake them free, but they held fast to her boots.  


A moment later, she stopped, as the realization that the actual boots she was staring at weren’t the ones she had fallen asleep in, nor were any that she could remember owning.  


“Not again…”  


“Something spook ya?”  


Her head whipped up to find another figure had appeared beside her, standing on two thin boards and holding thin, metal poles in each hand. The figure pulled a cloth from over the lower half of their face, revealing a broad grin before also lifting the strange eye protection free. The hazel eyes that stared back at her felt immediately familiar, causing her heart rate to increase.  


“I’ve never seen you fall over standing still since you first started learning.”  


Anukai quickly tried to push herself back to her feet, but it felt nearly impossible as the board strapped beneath her slid on the snowy surface with each slight motion.  


“Okay, hold on…”  


The sound of footsteps crunching through the snow quickly approached and a pair of hands grabbed her under her armpits and began to haul her to her feet. Once she was standing, once again, she tried to keep her balance while remaining still on the board.  


“You sure you’re feeling up to this today?” the figure asked, now standing directly before her while keeping both hands firmly placed on her shoulders.  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she stared back at the one across from her.  


“Elisabet?”  


Immediately, the other figure mirrored her confusion, possibly even showing more.  


“Did you hit your head when you fell?” she said.  


After a moment or two of staring at each other in confusion, the other figure leaned in closer, her tone quieter but more insistent.  


“Lis, are you okay?”  


Anukai closed her eyes, shaking her head quickly. When she opened her eyes again, the image of the woman was gone, and she instead found herself standing high above a dark ground lit by small clusters of light that seemed to form a series of interlocking lines across its surface. The redhead straightened up, glancing over the scene before her for several moments before the sounds of a large group of voices and music came from behind her.  


As she turned toward the sound, it seemed to fade once again. Immediately, she found herself staring at large, imposing structure made of what appeared to be white stone. The wall directly before her was made entirely of glass, and through it, an enormous crowd of people dressed in strange clothing was visible, all standing about in circles, talking, laughing, and some even dancing.  


There was so much to see in only a few seconds that she almost missed the figure approaching across the open ground between herself and the larger structure.  


“I don’t blame you,” the woman said, her voice laden with a thick accent she had never heard before, “but I was beginning to worry you had run away.”  


Anukai watched her approach until the woman stood beside her, leaning against the stone railing at the redhead’s back.  


“While I firmly believe in celebrating success, I’ve never quite found myself enjoying the means of doing so as much as everyone else.”  


Anukai swallowed nervously, nodding slowly as she glanced down to find a squat, glass goblet in her hand, half-filled with some kind of amber liquid.  


“So, how does it feel?” the unknown woman continued, drawing the redhead’s attention back to her.  


Anukai scanned over her, now that she was standing close enough that she could clearly make out more details. She was wearing a dress that seemed to rather tightly fit to her figure, including all the way to her ankles, although it had seemed to stretch as she had walked, a moment ago. The fabric was a bright yellow, at its base, although the amount of patterns and other colors on it was dizzying; they almost reminded her of shapes and patterns from Banuk paintings, but the colors and patterns they formed were distinctly not of Banuk origin. Her hair was covered by a bright blue scarf that seemed to be tucked into the collar of the dress, although a small portion in the back had come loose.  


“Worn your voice hoarse talking to suits, already?” the woman teased, grinning.  


“S-sorry, uh… I don’t know.”  


The woman laughed, staring out at the strange landscape Anukai had seen moments ago before turning back to the redhead.  


“It’s amazing Samina, couldn’t have done it without you,” she said in what seemed to be a mocking tone, a smirk firmly set on her features.  


“I… uh…”  


A blink later, however, and the image of the woman was gone, instead replaced by some kind of stone surface. Anukai blinked several more times, but the scene didn’t change. She slowly turned her head to the side to find that something soft seemed to be beneath it, and for a moment she found herself expecting the sight of the dead campfire to come into view, but instead she found herself staring at what appeared to be open windows set into a wall made of the same stone she had been staring at a moment ago.  


Confusion creased her face as she began to pull herself to a sitting position, but immediately severe pain shot through her torso and she sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, falling back onto the soft surface beneath.  


“Easy there.”  


The voice prompted her head to whip around in the other direction, her gaze wildly searching the other half of the room before she found the other figure who had spoken. Confusion immediately creased her face as she tried to lift her head slightly to right the image.  


“Ikrie…?” she said, her voice barely louder than a breath.  


“Good to see you’re awake, though.”  


The girl on the bed across from her glanced toward her only to pull a double take, one eyebrow raised.  


“You, uh… you actually awake over there?”  


A blink later, however, and Anukai found herself staring at what seemed to be a nearly identical image, although the figure’s eyes were closed. She quickly blinked several more times, but the image didn’t change. After several moments of confusion, she began to recognize the freckled face, still relaxed in sleep, and she turned her attention to the ground between them. Finally, the dead campfire came into view, and she let out a heavy sigh.  


“Didn’t sleep well?”  


She started at the soft voice, but tilted her head to look above her bedroll. The sideways image of Elisabet sitting with her back against the rocky wall behind her. The younger redhead sighed again, reaching up to rub at her eyes tiredly.  


“Must be a Sobeck trait.”  


“A what?” Anukai mumbled.  


“A… uh… never mind,” Elisabet replied. “You should try to get more rest.”  


“Same to you.”  


“I’ve never slept much,” the older redhead said, waving dismissively. “Don’t worry about me.”  


Anukai tried to mumble something else, but a yawn interrupted her.  


“Sleep.”  


She made a sound in mocking but closed her eyes, readjusting her position under her blanket.  


Sleep did not come nearly as quickly, but it did remain dreamless.  


The dark and the silence was beginning to feel like a rarity.


	5. First Impressions For the Second Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday. The train of 10k word chapters continues.
> 
> (Side note: if you've read this far, which hopefully you have if you're reading this, give yourself a hand because you've essentially read about 100 pages of a paperback novel in length. Also, the realization that I've written that much in only a little over a month is also insane, but I'm having fun so far, so let's keep it going.)
> 
> This chapter has the moment that you've probably been waiting for this entire time, so far.
> 
> So yeah, just gonna leave it at that for now.
> 
> Enjoy.

The next thing Anukai knew, she was being shaken awake, her heart rate instantly skyrocketing as she blinked against the bright, blurry image before her. She tried to reach for her weapons nearby, but found that her arms seemed pinned in place. Finally, when her vision cleared, she found herself staring at Ikrie’s smirking face.  


“When did you ever sleep so soundly?” she teased.  


Anukai let out a dismissive, groaning sound as she closed her eyes, once again.  


“Don’t go back to sleep!”  


Her torso shook violently, once again, prompting her eyes to shoot open. She tried to grab Ikrie back, but her arms remained pinned beneath the other huntress’s grip and trapped in her blanket.  


“Okay, okay, stop!”  


The other girl finally obliged, her smirk only deeper as the redhead glared up at her.  


“I’m awake.”  


“Good. Sun’s already well up. Elisabet can’t wait to get going.”  


Anukai sighed, shaking her head slowly as Ikrie straightened up. The redhead quickly realized that the other huntress also appeared to be atop her, pinning her in place rather effectively, even if she had tried to move so far.  


“You seem… lively,” the redhead remarked.  


“I’m not tired anymore,” the dark-haired girl shrugged.  


“That’s all it took?”  


“To do what?”  


“You were… never mind.”  


Confusion creased Ikrie’s face as she sighed, shaking her head.  


“Can I sit up, please?”  


The other girl suddenly seemed to realize where she was perched and quickly scrambled off, taking a seat cross-legged on the ground beside Anukai’s bedroll.  


“I was what, Anukai?”  


The redhead sighed, pulling herself to a sitting position and rubbing her eyes tiredly.  


“You were… quieter than normal… last night.”  


The other girl frowned slightly.  


“I didn’t think I was…”  


“Ikrie, I know…”  


The redhead glanced around, confirming that Elisabet had stepped away from the camp for the moment before turning back to the other girl.  


“I know you have your doubts about yesterday.”  


Ikrie sighed, her shoulders sagging.  


“Is it obvious?” she replied, her tone thick with sarcasm.  


“But… all this—what we’ve been searching for so far—just feels more real, now.”  


Ikrie glanced over her shoulder, as well, before leaning in closer to Anukai.  


“Because of her?”  


The redhead bit her lower lip for a moment before nodding.  


“Because of her.”  


Ikrie’s frown deepened.  


“I… I don’t know if ‘real’ is the word I’d use…”  


Anukai’s eyebrows raised, but just then, the sound of approaching footsteps prompted both girls to look toward the corner of the boulder, behind which they had taken shelter for the night. As they did, Elisabet appeared from around it, running one hand along its surface. When she saw both girls staring at her, she jumped, stopping in place.  


“I’m sorry, am I interrupting…?”  


“N-no!” they both sputtered quickly.  


Elisabet smirked as she approached, stepping around the huntresses and crouching beside her bedroll with a sigh.  


“Daylight’s burning, girls,” she said, glancing over at them, “and it’s a long walk to Meridian.”  


They both nodded solemnly before exchanging glances and sighing. Within the matter of only a minute or two, all three women were stepping back onto the dirt trail, their possessions secured about their persons. Immediately, Anukai began to fan the front of her tunic and lift her braid free of her neck.  


“I’ve told you to cut your hair,” Ikrie chided, smirking.  


Anukai shot her a dirty look as the other huntress laughed.  


“I mean, I’m not the one sweating, already,” she continued, making a pointed attempt at casually running her hand through the back of her considerably shorter hair.  


The redhead rolled her eyes, swiping the back of her hand across her neck and wiping it on the other girl’s cheek. Ikrie let out a cry of surprise and recoiled, her mouth hanging open in shock. A moment later, she lunged toward the redhead, swiping her hand at the back of her head. They veered across the dirt path as Elisabet simply watched them with a look of amusement. The struggle continued for several minutes until they both finally resumed a normal walking pace beside the older redhead, each of them panting and grinning.  


“I’m sure that didn’t help the heat,” Elisabet remarked.  


“Maybe not,” Anukai shrugged.  


“Doesn’t matter,” Ikrie chimed in.  


Their walk continued in a much calmer fashion for the remainder of the morning, where by the time the sun was at its peak, the women found themselves ascending a winding, mountain path. A blast of chilled air blew down from above them, prompting Anukai to shiver and wipe at the beads of sweat on her forehead that had instantly turned as cold as ice.  


“I thought you said Meridian was in the desert?”  


“It is,” Elisabet shot back, “but you have to get over a mountain before you can get to it.”  


“Losing that Banuk skin, already?”  


Anukai made to lunge toward Ikrie almost immediately, prompting her to hop out of her reach. Once they had calmed, once again, Elisabet glanced between the two of them.  


“Is this how you travelled all the way to the Nora lands?”  


“No,” Anukai shot back, glancing toward Elisabet. “Something got into her last night, I think.”  


“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”  


Their faux argument quickly ended as they crested the top of the mountain trail and came to a stop. A formidable wall made of stone stood at the far end of a small clearing on the other side of the hump in the trail. As Anukai scanned over it, she noted the elaborately armored guards patrolling atop it.  


“Carja…” she muttered.  


“It is their outpost, yes,” Elisabet said. “I take it you have experience with them?”  


“Some,” she replied. “You’re dressed like one, though.”  


Elisabet glanced down at herself before nodding slowly.  


“So I may be…”  


With that, she led the way down the trail until they approached the main gate of the wall. Unlike the Nora’s main gate, this one stood open, although several guards did stand watch just inside it. As the women stepped through the large opening, however, they merely nodded and made no moves to stop or question them, although Anukai did catch how one or two of them glanced between Elisabet and herself with curious expressions beneath their elaborate helmets.  


“That’s different…”  


She glanced toward Elisabet to find her staring back at the guards behind them before letting out a “huh” and turning back toward the path ahead of them.  


“What is?”  


“Nothing, never mind.”  


Immediately upon entering the Carja outpost, they found themselves surrounded by merchants and travelers of many tribes, all of them seeming to compete over who was the loudest and most noticeable. Almost immediately, a large Oseram man barked at them from their right about armor, causing Ikrie to jump and bump into Anukai in her surprise. The redhead shot her an amused look as Ikrie glanced darkly toward the merchant and continued walking.  


The redhead noted curiously a group of travelers in Banuk clothing seated at a table by the edge of a stone balcony to their left, and as her gaze swept over them, she noted something even more curious. A lone woman stood at the balcony behind the table, her back to Anukai and the main portion of the outpost. What drew her attention the most, though, was the mane of brilliant red hair that shone under the midday sun.  


Just as she moved to approach, Elisabet stepped into her view and she came to a short stop.  


“Busy place,” the older woman remarked. “Need anything?”  


Anukai stared blankly at her for a moment before quickly shaking her head and clearing her throat.  


“N-no, I’m good.”  


Elisabet studied her curiously for a moment before nodding in the direction they had been moving.  


“Let’s keep on the trail, then.”  


As the older redhead moved to her right, Anukai quickly turned her attention to the railing, but found that the other red haired woman she had seen was gone. She quickly rubbed her eyes tiredly before turning to move after Elisabet. Just as she did, however, she came to a sudden stop, her eyes widening as her heart rate skyrocketed.  


The woman she had seen at the railing was now standing directly in front of her, looking Anukai up and down with a curious expression. She only had a moment to take in her strange clothing and what appeared to be a single trail of blood running from her left eye before something shook her right shoulder and she blinked, the woman disappearing as her eyes reopened.  


“You okay?”  


She glanced to find Ikrie beside her, one hand still on her shoulder. Anukai quickly nodded.  


“Yeah, fine…”  


Ikrie looked as if she wanted to say more, but held her tongue and nodded, gently tugging on the redhead’s arm to lead her after Elisabet. As they moved out of the Carja outpost and began to descend toward the desert below, the cold sting of the mountain air quickly began to fade, being replaced instead by the constant, all-encompassing presence of the dry heat that blanketed the sandy ground. Anukai quickly began to fan her tunic more often and wiped her hand across her forehead almost constantly.  


“Sure we don’t need to go back and get you something for this heat?” Elisabet asked.  


“I’ll be… fine,” the younger redhead sighed. “How far is Meridian from here?”  


“Probably the better part of a day’s walk.”  


She groaned, but said nothing else as they continued onward. The path they followed eventually led them down the side of the red rock formations that the mountainside seemed to turn into the further they descended, Anukai and Ikrie both staring up at the hulking, natural formations as they ran their hands over them.  


“Even the rocks are different here,” the dark-haired huntress remarked.  


“They’re made of different material,” Elisabet said, nodding. “Where you’re from, there was probably a lot of granite, which is all grey or dark colored, but here it’s all sandstone.”  


Anukai smirked, turning her attention back to the older redhead.  


“Of course. Everything here’s made of sand.”  


When the trail finally evened out amidst the dry grass, short trees, and an ocean of loose, red sand, Elisabet sighed and came to a stop, turning back to face the huntresses.  


“The trail that way will lead to Meridian,” she said, gesturing to her right.  


“Okay, so let’s keep going,” Anukai replied, nodding.  


“You two will,” she said nodding, “but this is where we must split up, for now.”  


“What, why?” the younger redhead demanded quickly.  


“There’s… another place I need to visit,” Elisabet said slowly.  


“Where?”  


“In time, Anukai.”  


The redhead’s jaw worked tensely behind her closed lips as the older redhead sighed, bracing her hands on her hips.  


“There’s… another place similar to the one where you found me,” she said. “It’s another home to the goddess, to the light. It… I have a feeling about it and… I need to see if it’s true.”  


Anukai nodded, but her body language was one of resignation, not understanding.  


“You’ll see this other place, soon,” Elisabet said. “We will still need what Aloy stole before then, though.”  


Anukai only nodded once again, but still remained silent. Finally, after several long seconds, she cleared her throat.  


“What exactly are we looking for?”  


Elisabet blinked rapidly, seemingly snapping out of a daze as she shook her head quickly.  


“Information.”  


Both huntresses gave her dubious looks as the older redhead continued.  


“Not the kind that she would tell you, though. When she left me, it was contained in a series of small, black boxes. By now, the information may have been removed from them and transferred elsewhere.”  


“How can… information be treated like a physical object?” Ikrie finally asked.  


“It’s information encoded into light.”  


Both girls’ eyes widened as Elisabet began to explain.  


“The Old Ones found a way to make light do as they asked, and they were able to harness its power as an unparalleled means of storing information. You’ve seen the light in the machines, correct?”  


They nodded.  


“This was learned from them.”  


The huntresses gave each other doubtful glances, prompting Elisabet to draw a deep breath.  


“I know because I taught the goddess how to do it.”  


Anukai and Ikrie both immediately turned back to Elisabet, their eyes wide and their eyebrows raised.  


“You… what?”  


“I told you that I came before Aloy,” she said. “I worked with the goddess, with GAIA, to help her rebuild the world after the time of the Old Ones. She ultimately spurred the creation of the world, but also the machines. I taught her the very basics of things that otherwise would have been forgotten from the Old Ones, and… well, here we are today.”  


Silence fell over the group for several long moments before Ikrie swallowed heavily.  


“GAIA is… the goddess’s name?”  


Elisabet nodded.  


“You’ve seen her mark on so many of the machines, but have never realized it.”  


The girls shifted uncomfortably, glancing to each other, once again, before Anukai finally spoke.  


“So… we’re looking for information… about what?”  


“GAIA wasn’t alone as she did her work,” Elisabet said, nodding. “She had help. A team, if you will. They have also been lost for quite a while, however Aloy has information that can lead us to them… or perhaps lead them to us.”  


“And that’s inside some small, black boxes?”  


“It was, yes.”  


Anukai and Ikrie still bore dubious expressions, but nodded.  


“I promise this will make more sense in time,” Elisabet sighed. “For now, though, we don’t have enough time. Go to Meridian, find what Aloy took, and meet me in Daytower in a week’s time.”  


“A week?”  


“It may take some time to locate and retrieve the information,” Elisabet nodded. “You must not let her know that we have met, and why you are there. If she catches wind of your true purpose, you will never find the information, and you may very well never leave Meridian, again.”  


Both girls swallowed nervously but nodded.  


“I believe in you both,” the older redhead said, “and I’ll see you here in a week’s time.”  


With that, the two huntresses turned to continue heading along the path they had been following, while Elisabet turned in the opposite direction and continued farther north, along the side of the mountain range they had descended. Once they had walked far enough that Elisabet was easily out of earshot, Ikrie sighed heavily, drawing Anukai’s attention to her.  


“Do you have a bad feeling about finding this Aloy?” she asked.  


Anukai frowned slightly.  


“She certainly seems… somewhat terrifying.”  


“And she’s supposed to look exactly like you, too,” Ikrie pointed out.  


The redhead’s lips pulled into a thin line as a shiver ran down her spine.  


“Yeah, that, too…”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments, once again, before Ikrie spoke up.  


“Well, I suppose it’ll make it easier to find her, at least.”  


Anukai laughed dryly, wiping at the sweat threatening to roll into her eyes with the back of her hand.  


“I’m thinking she’ll probably find us, once we get to Meridian, if the Nora’s response is anything to go by.”  


True to Elisabet’s earlier assessment, by the time the sun had begun to sink below the horizon, they seemed to be no closer to anything resembling what could have been a city as large as Meridian was said to be. They had passed a few smaller outposts, but they resembled something more akin to Daytower, and the huntresses kept walking past each one, until the trail led them straight into the center of one. The outpost was atop a hill that seemed to lead into one of the large rock formations they had passed on their journey, although this one had been split in two.  


The people who milled about the open area in the middle of the small outpost did not wear the same elaborate armor or bright colors as the Carja they had seen thus far, but instead the sweat and dust stained, utilitarian clothing of laborers like the ones they had seen in Free Heap, although typically without the leather aprons.  


“Do we stop here for the night, or…?” Ikrie asked quietly, glancing around.  


“Doesn’t really look like they’re set up for visitors,” Anukai replied.  


“Hey!”  


They both jumped, glancing around for the source of the voice, until they both noticed a shirtless man with a large beard approaching them, one finger pointed squarely at Anukai.  


“No one told me we were having a visit.”  


“Sorry, we’re just passing through—”  


“Our deflector’s been broken for a month now, and we’ve been dealing with Glinthawks every other day since then. You finally decide to come see what’s wrong, yourself?”  


Anukai glanced to Ikrie, who simply shrugged. A moment later, the man came to a stop before them, an odorous wave of sweat and something else equally as pungent rolled over them, prompting both girls to wrinkle their noses.  


“Yeah, happens when you’re digging in the quarry all day,” the man grunted, glancing between them disdainfully. “So, how about it?”  


“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Anukai shot back.  


“Then why’re you here?”  


“Like I said,” she replied, her tone growing more forceful, “we’re just passing through.”  


“To where?”  


“Meridian.”  


“Oh, so you’re out doing more important business and ignoring us?”  


“I don’t even know who you are or what this place is!” Anukai snapped. “I’ve never set foot in this place until today.”  


The man opened his mouth to continue arguing when another man appeared beside him, tapping him on the shoulder.  


“Sir, I don’t think that’s her.”  


The man recoiled, glancing between Anukai and his compatriot.  


“What?! She’s got the flame ‘air!”  


“She’s also barely older’n a kid.”  


The first man turned back to Anukai, looking her up and down before squinting at her.  


“Aye, and dressed Banuk.”  


“Because I am,” she shot back.  


The two men before her exchanged glances before the one who had previously yelled at her sighed.  


“Sorry girl,” he said. “Thought you’re someone else.”  


“I… it’s happened before,” she replied, nodding.  


“You don’t know the councilwoman for all the machines and such in Meridian, though?”  


Anukai’s eyebrows raised slightly as the hair on the back of her neck stood up.  


“N-no, I don’t,” she said. “Councilwoman?”  


“Aye,” the man grunted, nodding. “Well, if your headed to Meridian, maybe you can find ‘er and ask about Cut-Cliffs.”  


“Sure thing.”  


“How much farther is it from here?” Ikrie asked, stepping into the conversation.  


“Oh, ‘bout half to a full day’s walk out that way,” he replied, gesturing to a trail leading out of the other side of the outpost.  


Ikrie’s shoulders sagged as she sighed.  


“I was afraid of that…”  


“We don’t have anything like an inn,” the second man chimed in, “but you’re welcome to set up camp within the outpost for the night, so you’re not quite out in the open.”  


The girls exchanged glances before turning back to them and nodding.  


“Thanks.”  


Taking the man’s offer, they laid out their bedrolls by the rock wall at the far side of the outpost, away from the majority of the workers, although they did accept the offer to eat with them. The food was not intricate or particularly flavorful, but it was incredibly hearty and by the time they had bid the laborers goodnight and laid on their bedrolls, both girls were nearly asleep, hands over their stomachs.  


“I just couldn’t say no when they put all of it in front of me…” Ikrie groaned.  


“I think I could go without eating for a few days, now,” Anukai replied.  


Eventually, Anukai fell asleep atop her blanket, the slightly chilled air still not enough to make her feel comfortable beneath it. Compared to the previous night, her sleep was uneventful, with only the vague impressions of things like warmth, happiness, laughter, and the color red lingering in her mind as she awoke the following morning.  


Almost immediately, she was awakened fully by the sound of a loud boom from nearby, prompting her to quickly scramble to a kneeling position, reaching for her bow. As she glanced around, however, she didn’t see any signs of large machines approaching, however she did note a large cloud of dust and smoke rising from the other side of the outpost. She tilted her head slightly as she rose to her feet, trying to figure out what had caused it, only for another loud boom to shake the ground, once again.  


After the second blast, Ikrie was also firmly awake and on her feet, her sling in hand, but Anukai quickly placed a hand on her arm, holding it down.  


“I think it’s the laborers,” she said, nodding toward the growing cloud ahead of them.  


Ikrie followed her gaze before nodding, lowering her weapon fully.  


“He said it’s a quarry, so… blasting rock?” she offered.  


“Seem to be.”  


“Well… can’t imagine what would draw the machines in, then,” the dark-haired huntress said, her tone thick with sarcasm.  


Anukai gave her a hard look but sighed and turned back to her bedroll.  


“Well, now we’re both awake, so might as well get on our way.”  


Ikrie mumbled something that sounded like agreement as they began to pack their things. Just as they had finished fixing their bedrolls to their persons, a different sound split the air, causing both girls to pause. They glanced to each other before each of them quickly pulled their weapons free, glancing toward the sky overhead.  


Four dark shapes had begun to circle overhead, their exact details hidden as they were silhouetted against the morning sun, but the glowing yellow dots on each clearly gave away the heads of the Glinthawks above. Immediately, the laborers across the outpost began to shout, calling attention to the machines as their odd calls continued to echo about the open space.  


“Nothing like a little excitement in the morning,” Ikrie muttered.  


Just then, one of the Glinthawks broke the circling formation and dove toward the outpost, the first hints of a frosty cloud of mist appearing around its mouth. With a wailing call, a ball of chillwater suddenly flew from the machine and toward the crowd of laborers in the open part of the outpost. They quickly dove out of the way as the projectile slammed into the ground, instantly sending a cloud of frozen liquid across the dirt.  


Several of the laborers had grabbed bows and some kind of projectile weapons that were nearly as long as their arms and were attempting to take aim at the flying machines, but as they fired, their shots sailed well clear.  


“Not hunters, I see,” Ikrie commented.  


“Nope.”  


With that, the huntresses moved forward, Anukai waving her arms and calling up to the machines. One of them seemed to take notice as its eyes turned red and it banked away from the others, making a path straight for the redhead. As it drew closer, its sharp, taloned feet extended forward, a loud cry echoing across the open ground as it swooped directly toward Anukai. At the last moment, she dove to her left, just as a projectile slammed into the machine’s face, sending a burst of chillwater over it. The Glinthawk faltered and seemed to have trouble maintaining its flight path, slamming into the ground a few moments later with a heavy thud.  


Anukai quickly drew an arrow from her quiver, nocking it to her bow before taking aim directly at the machine’s right eye. As her arrow slammed into it, sparks flew from the point of contact and the Glinthawk let out a call in pain. A moment later, Anukai had drawn another arrow and sent it firmly into the blue, misting component on its chest, immediately breaking it open and revealing the exposed chillwater container beneath.  


The machine tried to hop away, flapping its wings in an attempt to get airborne, however Anukai was faster. As her arrow shattered the chillwater container, the entire outer chassis of the machine froze solid, the metal creaking and groaning as the machine attempted to move. The redhead glanced to Ikrie and nodded before quickly hopping backward. A moment later, another projectile flew toward the machine, although this one exploded with a percussive blast upon contact. Anukai raised one arm to cover her face against the heat and debris, but as she lowered it and turned back to the Glinthawk, she found it still on the ground, the last few shakes and twitches of its limbs slowing until it lay still in a half-frozen metal heap on the ground.  


Cheers arose from the distance and the huntresses glanced over to find the laborers looking toward them, raising their fists into the air and calling out praises. The girls exchanged glances, smirking, before turning back to the three remaining Glinthawks overhead.  


Two more of them broke from their circling pattern overhead, although only one made to swoop toward them, as the previous one had, while the other remained at a distance, lobbing a chillwater projectile in their direction. The huntresses dove in opposite directions, narrowly avoiding the explosion of frozen liquid, although Anukai was just close enough that she could feel the chilled air emanating from the impact sight blow over her with a gust of wind.  


She quickly popped to one knee, drawing an arrow and taking aim at the Glinthawk overhead. Her arrow met its mark firmly in the chest of the machine, sending it tumbling toward the ground even as it feebly attempted to flap its wings harder, although one of them notably didn’t seem to respond as well as the other.  


Before she could track its full path to the ground, however, the bleating cry of a Glinthawk much closer to her drew her attention just in time to drop to the ground, the metallic talons of the other machine that had gone on the attack sailing just inches above her head. As she rolled onto her back, she drew another arrow, loosing it after the machine as it attempted to bank up and away. It landed firmly in the center of the Glinthawk’s back, but it seemed to do little to disrupt its path.  


With a growl of frustration, Anukai scrambled to her feet, turning back toward the machine she had knocked from the sky moments ago, only to find Ikrie lunging toward it, knife drawn. A moment later, she had slipped it into the chest of the machine, prompting it to let out one final, bleating call before the light in its eyes extinguished and it fell still, as well. Anukai quickly spun around, looking for the other Glinthawk, just in time to see both of the remaining machines diving directly toward her.  


The redhead quickly nocked an arrow, aiming for the machine to her left and loosing it directly into its gaping maw as it let out a loud screech. The machine faltered and tumbled forward, its trajectory quickly falling, although its companion continued on its path toward her. Just then, something seemed to hit it from behind and the machine also began to waver in its flight path.  


Anukai still dove forward, tucking her head and shoulders and rolling across the ground. As she popped into a kneeling position, the machines both crashed into the ground behind her, shaking it with the force of their impacts. The redhead quickly spared a glance toward the laborers who had been facing the machines to find that some of them had drawn closer, and one of them was still holding a bow raised, a grin on his face.  


She nodded her thanks before quickly twisting around and rising to her feet in one smooth motion. The two Glinthawks behind her were struggling to regain their footing on the ground, but one of them was already coated in a layer of chillwater from one of Ikrie’s projectiles. Anukai quickly turned her attention to the other, drawing one of the new arrows Varga had sold her before leaving the cut. She glanced at the strange device affixed to its tip for a moment before nocking it to her bow and taking aim at the downed machine.  


As soon as the projectile made contact, a strange whirring sound filled the air. A moment later, a loud explosion split the air as pieces of the Glinthawk’s outer armor flew from its body. Anukai recoiled at the blast, but a smirk quickly found its way onto her features as she nocked a regular arrow, taking aim at the machine’s exposed innards. A moment later, her arrow had found its mark in the side of the Glinthawk’s chest, piercing far enough into it that sparks burst freely from it and the machine let out a final screech before falling still.  


As soon as Anukai turned back to the other Glinthawk, an explosion rocked the side of its head, sending sparks and pieces of metal flying in all directions. The redhead covered her face with her arm, once again, until the sounds of the machine disappeared and the world was left in a quiet void for a few moments. As she lowered her arm, loud cheers replaced the calls of the machines.  


Anukai glanced to her left to find the crowd of laborers clapping and cheering, wide grins on their faces. With a smirk, the redhead turned to look across the carnage to her companion. Ikrie was also surveying the wreckage, one corner of her lip pulled back as an amused spark flashed in her eyes. When their gazes met, they both nodded and Ikrie began to make her way through the downed machines.  


When she approached, each of them punched the other on the shoulder playfully, laughing.  


“That’s one way to start the morning,” the dark-haired huntress remarked, grinning.  


Anukai nodded, slipping her bow over her shoulders, once again. As they turned toward the crowd across the outpost, they found a group of them approaching, all of them grinning as they glanced around at the downed machines.  


“That was a mighty fine display, huntresses,” the large man from the night before remarked.  


“Just a bit of morning target practice,” Anukai replied, shrugging.  


The gathered group laughed as the larger man nodded.  


“Aye, regardless,” he began, “you have our thanks. When you get to Meridian, though, could you perhaps ask that councilwoman about our deflector?”  


“If we have the chance,” the redhead laughed, nodding.  


The group offered the huntresses first pick at scrapping the machines, but they declined, offering them to the laborers to take what they needed. They couldn’t leave without accepting at least some shards, however, as the group continued to insist. Finally, they managed to make their way out of the outpost and resume their trek along the path to Meridian.  


With each passing hour of walking, the huntresses passed greater and greater sights of enormous natural rock formations, along with several prowling machines larger than any they had seen before. When they passed a lake with what a flying machine that was easily four or five times the size of a Glinthawk casually circling over it, they both came to a stop, glancing to each other before turning back to the scene before them.  


“I’d heard stories of some of these machines in the south,” Ikrie muttered, “but I never actually expected them to be so… _big_.”  


Anukai simply nodded, staring up at the enormous machine for several long moments before taking a deep breath.  


“Let’s try not to make any of them mad, okay?”  


Ikrie nodded and turned to continue beside the redhead as they moved along the trail past the lake. After a brief break shortly after midday to rest and eat some of their stored meat and some form of tree nuts they had purchased in Nora lands, they found the trail they had been following beginning to trend gradually upward. They also began to cross paths with more people, many of them with carts pulled by docile Striders and laden with supplies of various kinds, although several appeared to be hunting parties, carrying only bows, spears, and traps.  


“Must be getting close…” Anukai muttered as they passed a small convoy of three wooden carts, all loaded with quite sizeable amounts of cargo.  


“Have you seen machines so calm before?” Ikrie asked, eying the convoy, as well.  


“No, but the Carja who came to the Cut spoke of them,” she replied, shaking her head.  


“Think it has something to do with… who we’re here for?”  


Anukai’s lips pulled into a thin line as she turned back to Ikrie.  


“I guess we’ll find out.”  


Just then, they rounded a bend in the trail and both girls immediately came to a stop, eyes widening. The bend in the trail revealed a steep drop-off at a sheer cliff face, but across the lowlands before them stood a singular, impressive mesa rising from the surprisingly green ground around it. What drew their attention the most, however, were the gleaming structures of stone, wood, and metal that sat atop it, lit by the first hints of red and pink in the sky behind it as the sun sank below the distant horizon, along with the massive stone bridges that connected it to the higher ground where the path seemed to be leading them.  


“I… think that must be Meridian,” the redhead breathed.  


“Yeah… probably.”  


They both exchanged glances before taking deep breaths and continuing along the paths. Anukai could feel her palms growing slicker with cold sweat as they drew closer and closer to the large bridge, all the while the city only seemed to grow larger and loom even further over them. As the huntresses came to a flat, open area at the end of the stone bridge, they came to a stop, both staring at the Carja guards standing at attention ahead of them.  


“So… we’re here,” Ikrie said quietly.  


Anukai simply nodded, pressing her hands against her skirt to try to wick some of the sweat away, but it did little to help the tingling sensation in her fingers and toes as she tried to ignore the sound of her heart pounding in her ears.  


“So… no point in delaying, right?” Ikrie said, turning to the redhead.  


She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment before turning to her companion.  


“No, guess not.”  


With that, they began to approach the guards at the end of the bridge. Anukai eyed them warily as they approached, expecting them to block their paths or begin asking questions, but other than straightening up as the girls approached, they barely reacted to their presence. As they continued onto the pathway, both girls glanced at each other, yet again.  


“That was… surprisingly easy,” Ikrie whispered.  


“We’re not in the city, yet…”  


They continued along the stone walkway in silence as the sounds of voices and general commotion from ahead only grew louder. Finally, as they appeared to be approaching the end of the bridge, another set of Carja guards came into view. Although they straightened up, as well, Anukai noted how one of them seemed to make another small motion, as if to step forward, but paused at the last second. The redhead eyed him warily as they moved to step past, entering the immediately busy street beyond.  


Both girls glanced around at the crowds of people the brushed past them, many dressed in the bright silks of the Carja they were both familiar with, although they also caught sight of many other tribal styles, as well. In addition to the sights and sounds, the overwhelming assortment of smells hit them a physical assault. Anukai caught Ikrie tilting her head up, closing her eyes.  


“Whatever that is… it smells amazing,” the dark-haired huntress sighed, “and now I’m hungry.”  


“I suppose this would be the place to get something other than dried meat and nuts,” Anukai remarked, smirking.  


“I’m ready.”  


They both laughed before Anukai led the way into the flow of people, moving along the street to their right. Within only a minute or two, they had passed venders selling everything from weapons to armor to strange trinkets, all without repeating the same wares. The scent of food had only grown stronger the entire time, and as they came into another small courtyard, Ikrie pointed down a street to their left.  


As Anukai glanced down it, she saw the telltale signs of smoke and steam from fires and cooking food, as well as racks of meat hanging from wooden racks beside vendors’ stalls. Ikrie began to lead the way down the street, but the redhead happened to glance to her right before pulling a double take and stopping place. A few moments later, the dark-haired girl seemed to realize she hadn’t followed and hurried back to her.  


“You see something?”  


Anukai swallowed the heavy lump in her throat and nodded toward something ahead of them. Ikrie followed her gaze and also paused as she noted the line of even more ornately-dressed guards standing before what appeared to be another bridge farther along the street they had been following.  


“Seems official…” she remarked.  


“The man last night… said something about a councilwoman…”  


They exchanged glances before Ikrie sighed, pulling on Anukai’s tunic slightly.  


“Can we please get something to eat, first?”  


The redhead nodded, turning to follow her, but still keeping her eyes fixed on the guards ahead of them. Something about the mere sight of them made the hair stand up on the back of her neck, but she pushed it aside as she followed the other girl. After perusing the options on both sides of the street, Ikrie had insisted that they stop at a stall selling some kind of plate that included a piece of flat bread loaded with meat and vegetables that had all been cooked once and then thrown together in a single, metal pan with some kind of sizzling liquid.  


They each bought their own and before they had taken two steps away from the stall, Ikrie had bitten into hers. She immediately let out something like a moan through the mouthful of food as Anukai glanced to her with her eyebrows raised.  


“Taste all right?”  


“Tastes like the best thing I’ve ever eaten!” the other girl exclaimed. “Try yours!”  


Anukai laughed, but bit into her food with much less gusto. Immediately, the explosion of flavor across her tongue made her eyes widen. Ikrie watched her expectantly as she finished chewing and swallowed her first bite.  


“And…?”  


“It’s good,” Anukai said, trying to shrug nonchalantly, but Ikrie quickly kicked out at her shin, causing her to wince and hop away. “Okay, okay, it’s amazing.”  


They both laughed before quickly finishing their food in only a matter of a minute or two. Once they were done, both girls sighed, Anukai wiping the back of her hand across her mouth to remove some of the excess, oily feeling that remained, before wiping it on her skirt.  


“So… time to look for a councilwoman?”  


Ikrie’s face fell slightly but she sighed, wiping at her mouth in a similar fashion.  


“Ikrie…”  


“I know, we came here for a reason,” she said. “Just… I already said I had a bad feeling.”  


“I know, but… we won’t know for sure until we try.”  


Anukai led the way back the way they came, both girls moving slower and with much less excitement. Finally, when they rejoined the street they had originally followed through the city, they turned to their left and began to make their way toward the line of Carja guards. As they approached, a young man in a different style of armor was talking to one of the guards in the center of the line.  


During his conversation, he happened to glance in their direction before pulling a double take, confusion creasing his brow. Anukai quickly felt her heart rate accelerate as he turned away from the guard, stepping toward her.  


“Ma’am, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you leave,” he called.  


Anukai and Ikrie came to a stop at the edge of the flow of foot traffic as the man continued to regard the redhead with a curious look. He couldn’t have been older than them, but was possibly a few years younger. The beginnings of a beard were visible along his jawline, although it was either well-trimmed or simply not able to grow much longer, yet. His hair was cut into a strange pattern with a single, longer strip down the center while the sides were shaved nearly to the skin. Although he wore rather heavy armor, his frame didn’t entirely speak of someone who Anukai would have expected to have taken on such a heavy burden.  


“I’m sorry, I didn’t expect there to be a recess so soon,” he said, still looking to Anukai. “Did something happen in the meeting?”  


“Uh…”  


Suddenly, his brow furrowed even deeper as he looked Anukai over more closely.  


“Wait…”  


He finally seemed to notice Ikrie, as well, glancing between the two of them before pointing to the redhead.  


“You’re not…?”  


She swallowed nervously as the young man shook his head.  


“She doesn’t have a daughter…”  


“Who doesn’t?”  


The man froze, staring back at her for several moments before he cleared his throat.  


“Do you know the councilwoman Aloy?”  


Anukai’s eyes widened slightly, only seeming to deepen the man’s confusion.  


“I’m going to say by that response you don’t,” he said, shaking the finger he had been pointing at her slowly for a moment or two before nodding. “Come with me.”  


“Uh…”  


“She’ll want to know.”  


“Who will?”  


“Follow me.”  


“Wait a second,” Anukai said more forcefully, “I don’t know who you are or what you’re talking about. Why am I following you?”  


“Come with me, _now_ ,” he said, turning back to her. “Someone needs to speak with you.”  


“Who, Aloy?”  


“Follow or you can be led.”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged glances, each of them sensing the tension in the other as their hands instinctually moved toward their belts, only to pause when they saw several Carja guards approaching, their long pikes held in both hands.  


“Which will it be?” the young man demanded, turning to face them.  


The huntresses eyed the guards and their weapons for several moments before slowly letting their hands fall to their sides and stepping after the young man. He led them between the group of Carja guards, who turned and began to follow after them.  


The young man quickly led them through the line of the remaining guards and onto the bridge beyond. As they passed, Anukai glanced back, only to find that the guards who had been following them had stopped with their compatriots, rejoining the line, although several of them continued to watch the girls as they moved across the bridge.  


When she turned back to face the man ahead of them, she quickly found her eyes travelling up to the structure they were rapidly approaching. The massive stone structure stretched several stories over their heads, portions of it, particularly some of the angled roofs, were coated with a reflective, golden material that still shone brilliantly in the fading sunlight.  


As her gaze moved down the structure, she realized that it extended farther below the level where the bridge met it, the structure seemingly carved into a free-standing mesa of its own. The entire place felt imposing and important, however it was far too intricate to be a prison.  


As they stepped off the bridge and onto a stone dais, the young man approached another guard at the base of a set of twisting, stone steps.  


“Fetch Councilwoman Aloy,” he said. “Tell her to return to her study. There’s someone she needs to speak with.”  


The man glanced back at Anukai, who felt herself tensing under his gaze, once again. The guard nodded and moved toward a heavy wooden door with intricate, metal designs hammered into its surface, quickly disappearing inside.  


“Follow me,” the young man said shortly, leading the way up the set of steps beside where the guard had stood moments ago.  


The huntresses continued to keep their distance, following much more slowly behind him. By the time they reached the top of the curved staircase, the young man was waiting impatiently in the center of another enormous, open dais.  


“This way.”  


He turned and continued toward an open set of massive, wooden doors to their right, barely looking to see if they were following. As the huntresses obliged, they found themselves glancing around at the detailed, intricate carvings in the stonework, as well as the intricate embroidery in the pillows and seats of a set of benches just inside the massive doors.  


The young man led them to the left, however, and toward a smaller, narrower staircase that led farther down into the building. Anukai paused at the top of it, eying the narrow, dark passageway beneath her as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.  


“Trap?” Ikrie whispered.  


“Doesn’t feel safe, whatever it is,” she replied.  


“Come,” the young man barked, pausing on the stairs to glance back at them.  


Anukai scowled at his intense expression, but began to descend slowly after him. Once they were within a few steps, he continued onward, leading them farther down into the massive, stone structure. Just as it was beginning to grow almost too dark to see, the man turned through an open doorway into a much more well-lit hallway beyond.  


One entire side of the hallway was open to a courtyard below, allowing what remained of the sun’s light to illuminated the space. Anukai noted several people in the courtyard below, dressed in flowing, crimson robes, lighting torches fixed to the walls below them. She didn’t have time to take in much more of the scene, however, as the young man pressed onward along the walkway, leading them even deeper into the building.  


“Doesn’t seem like a prison,” Ikrie whispered.  


“No, seems more… important,” Anukai replied, equally as softly.  


The girls followed the young man down another short staircase before entering what appeared to be the lower level of the courtyard that they had seen moments ago. He quickly made straight for the third door on their left, before stopping abruptly before it and glancing back at them.  


“Wait in here.”  


He opened the heavy wooden door and gestured inside.  


“You first,” Anukai shot back, meeting his gaze with every bit of intensity she could muster.  


“It’s a study, not a prison.”  


“You can still lock the door behind us, either way.”  


The man sighed but obliged, stepping into the room and turning to face them with his arms raised to either side of him.  


“Will you enter, now?”  


Anukai debated for a moment before something prompted her to pause. A moment later, she stepped into the doorway, leaning through it to peer into the room beyond. Immediately, small symbols made of light appeared about the room before her, all of them seemingly hovering over small, metal devices that lay scattered amongst scrolls and other, bound collections of parchment. She stepped into the room, slowly turning about to take in the entire space, Ikrie following shortly after her.  


A large, wooden bench sat at the far side of the room, its surface almost entirely covered in scrolls and the strange, metal devices. The walls were lined with wooden shelves, each filled with more of the devices and bound collections of smaller scrolls. A single, large scroll was fixed to the wall just inside the door where they had entered, its surfaced covered in what appeared to be a massive drawing that was then marked with even more symbols and glyphs. As Anukai scanned over it, stepping farther into the center of the room to see it better, she quickly realized that it was a map, but she didn’t recognize any features of it.  


“The councilwoman should not be long,” the young man said, clearing his throat.  


“Well I’d hope you didn’t drag us here so forcefully just to keep us waiting,” Anukai shot back, her tone laced with sarcasm.  


He looked like he wanted to say something in response, but ultimately held his tongue as his jaw worked tensely in silence. Satisfied that he wasn’t going to continue arguing, Anukai turned her attention back to the strange devices with the projections of light above them. She picked one of them off a nearby shelf, turning it over in her hands. It wasn’t a small, black box like Elisabet had described, but something told her it may hold information, all the same.  


Instinctually, she found her hand reaching for the device beside her ear, her fingers tapping its surface and bringing the web of light to life around her. A small circle appeared over the device in her hand, quickly filling with a brighter, green light. Once the circle was complete, a box made of blue light appeared before her, containing a field of glyphs that she could only just barely begin to grasp.  


With a frown, she tried to swipe the box away, only for it to slide to her right and disappear into thin air. She blinked in surprise, but glanced back down at the device in her hand. The same circle appeared, once again, and the same box came to life once it had filled. Swiping it away, once again, removed the box from the air before her, prompting her to let out a “huh” sound before tapping the device beside her ear and returning the one in her hand to the shelf.  


“You use a Focus, too.”  


She turned back to the young man to see him studying her curiously.  


“I found this, yes.”  


“Most Banuk, as well as the Nora, refuse such things,” he said, nodding.  


“Who says I'm like most Banuk?”  


Just then, the sounds of footsteps striding quickly across the stone hallway outside echoed through the open doorway, prompting all three of them to turn toward it. They continued to grow in volume until Anukai swore they had to be just outside and she swallowed nervously. A moment later, they paused, and the redhead found herself holding her breath.  


The next few seconds of stillness seemed to take an eternity to pass before the signs of motion were visible in the doorway. Immediately afterward, a hand appeared in the center of the door, followed soon after by a full figure as they stepped inside.  


Immediately, the figure came to a stop as she locked eyes with Anukai. The redhead’s heart seemed to stop for a beat or two as her mouth went dry, her eyes locked on the all-too-familiar hazel ones across from her, framed by a smattering of freckles below them and a bright, copper-red mane above them. The woman was dressed in a set of bright blue, red, and white Carja silks that clearly showed her forearms, her skin marked by a series of small scars, as well as more freckles, although they appeared slightly darker than the ones on her face. The flowing, silk leggings were tucked into a pair of leather boots that appeared at once both flexible and thick enough to protect against more than simply walking about a Carja city.  


Anukai tried to muster the ability to speak, but it felt impossible as most of her attention was devoted to reminding her lungs to breathe and her heart to beat.  


Finally, the older image of herself that stood before her spoke, breaking the void-like silence that had taken over the room.  


“Holy fucking shit.”  


Anukai swallowed the painful lump in her throat and opened her mouth to speak, but the woman across from her cut her off.  


“GAIA, is she…?”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as the other redhead continued to stare back at her, only to shake her head a moment later.  


“What? No… that can’t… that would mean…”  


Anukai glanced to Ikrie, who looked just as confused as she felt.  


“No, i-it’s a trick…”  


The two huntresses turned back to the redhead across from them as her face began to contort in anger.  


“How did you get out of that bunker?”  


Anukai remained silent for several moments before the older redhead suddenly began to stalk toward her, prompting her to jump in surprise.  


“I-I…”  


Anukai began to backpedal, but she didn’t have enough time to react before the older redhead grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the wooden shelves behind her. Ikrie quickly rushed forward, attempting to grab the older woman’s arm, but she simply switched hands and used the other to shove the dark-haired huntress aside.  


“I knew just leaving you in that place was a mistake,” she growled as Anukai desperately clawed at her hand.  


Suddenly, a knife appeared at the older redhead’s throat and she froze.  


“Let—her—go,” Ikrie growled, her grip tight on her hunting knife.  


The older redhead’s eyes travelled toward Ikrie for a moment before the anger in them suddenly started to give way to something else as she turned back to Anukai, whose face was turning a dark crimson as she struggled for any room to breathe under her grip. Suddenly, the older redhead released her hold and Anukai gasped, her throat burning as her pulse throbbed in her temples, the edges of her vision going dark for a moment before it slowly began to recede with each heaving breath.  


“You’re… not cold… like…”  


Anukai coughed painfully as she rubbed at her neck, sliding along the shelf to put some distance between herself and the older redhead, who was now looking to her with an expression somewhere between confusion and awe. Ikrie hesitantly removed her knife, eying the older woman for a moment before sheathing it and slipping around her to approach Anukai.  


“Are you okay?” she said, placing both hands on the redhead’s shoulders.  


“I’m… alive,” Anukai rasped.  


Ikrie’s fingers gently traced over the angry red marks on the redhead’s neck where she had been held a moment ago.  


“Who are you?”  


They both turned back to the other redhead to find her still staring with the same expression.  


“I think we should be asking _you_ that,” Ikrie spat. “You just tried to kill one of us on sight, and we’ve never even met you!”  


The older redhead blinked, shaking her head rapidly to break out of her daze, her hazel eyes regaining a sense of clarity.  


“I’m… deeply sorry,” she said. “I… thought you were someone else.”  


“Heard that… before…” Anukai managed, still rubbing at her throat with a grimace.  


The older redhead stared back at her for several long moments before taking a deep breath, letting out a heavy sigh a moment later.  


“My name is Aloy Sobeck.”  


Both girls instantly reacted, their eyes widening slightly as Anukai attempted to stand up straight.  


“S-sobeck?”  


She nodded.  


“And you… well, now I’d say you’re me, and so have at least several others, I’d guess.”  


Anukai let out a short, dry laugh as she nodded.  


“What’s your name?” Aloy asked, her tone much softer, now.  


The redhead glared back at her for several moments before clearing her throat, grimacing at the pain that still flared in it.  


“Anukai.”  


Aloy repeated it slowly, nodding as well.  


“I’m deeply sorry, once again,” she finally said. “I… there’s a bit of a confusing past you’d have to understand…”  


“Other than how we look so much alike, and why everyone keeps thinking I’m you?” Anukai shot back.  


Aloy’s lips pulled into a thin line before she sighed heavily.  


“Yeah, in addition to that.”  


The older redhead turned to the young man who had led the huntresses to the room, initially, nodding toward him.  


“Thanks Bekan, you can be dismissed.”  


“Are you sure?” he said, glancing to the two girls warily.  


“I will be fine,” she sighed. “We have a lot to talk about… in private.”  


The young man continued to eye the younger women warily, but eventually nodded, turning back to Aloy.  


“As you say, ma’am.”  


Aloy seemed to cringe slightly at the title, but the young man made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him. In the silence that followed, the older redhead rubbed at her eyes tiredly. Finally, when she turned back to the huntresses, Anukai was able to fully look her over, once again.  


Aloy bore a remarkable resemblance to Anukai’s own reflection, but also the redhead they had just left on their trail to Meridian. In fact, other than the hair style and the marks of past hunts that hadn’t marked Elisabet’s skin, they seemed to be identical, even down to the lines around their mouths and eyes.  


“I… I’m sure you have questions,” Aloy said softly.  


“Like why did you try to kill her?” Ikrie shot back.  


The older redhead sighed, nodding.  


“I… like I said, I thought you were someone else. That… there’s probably some more we should get through before that.”  


“You said your name was Aloy Sobeck,” Anukai said quickly, her heart beating quickly in her chest. “Like…”  


Aloy’s eyes began to widen as the younger redhead swallowed nervously.  


“Like Elisabet Sobeck?”  


“You know that name?” she said quickly, stepping closer and prompting both girls to recoil defensively.  


Aloy quickly took a step back, but her hands had noticeably begun to wring before her.  


“I… I heard it,” Anukai said slowly. “In a mountain in Banuk lands. It… it called me… that.”  


“It called you Elisabet’s name?”  


Anukai nodded.  


“Then… you have to be…”  


Just then, a flash of light appeared in the center of the room and the younger huntresses both jumped in surprise, although Aloy barely seemed to react to it. A moment later, the light had coalesced into a single form, leaving both young women staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the figure that seemingly formed out of it.  


“Aloy, if readings from your focus are correct…”  


“I know, GAIA,” Aloy said, nodding.  


The image of a dark-skinned woman in a flowing, green dress now stood in the center of the room, staring between Aloy and Anukai with an expression somewhere between shock and disbelief on her face.  


“She is another clone.”  


“I’m a what?” Anukai said quickly, stepping forward and causing Ikrie to jump in surprise.  


“I… was getting to that,” Aloy sighed. “GAIA, is she… a clone of… _me_?”  


“I do not know a time when that information was gathered,” the woman of light said, shaking her head. “She must be another _like_ you… from Elisabet’s original genetic information.”  


Anukai’s face drained of all color as her eyes widened further.  


“What… did you just say?”  


“GAIA, hold on!” Aloy said, holding one finger up toward the woman of light. “Anukai, I…”  


“Tell me what all of this stuff you’ve been saying means, _now_!” Anukai snapped, her hands clenching into fists at her sides.  


Aloy sighed heavily, rubbing her temples tiredly.  


“I… am a clone, a ‘reinstantiation,’ of a woman named Elisabet Sobeck who lived long ago,’ Aloy began. “I was not born of a woman, like everyone else… everyone except you, as well, it seems.”  


“You… you’re saying… that I’m…?”  


Aloy nodded slowly.  


“The fact that we look so much alike, and based on the information that GAIA, here, was able to read from my Focus,” the redhead gestured to a familiar metal trinket beside her right ear, “seems to say that you are, too, just… younger.”  


“So… I was… _made_?” Anukai managed, her chest heaving. “B-but… how? Why?”  


“‘How’ is easier to answer,” Aloy continued. “There were facilities constructed long ago that had the ability to create life, to create people, and that was where I was born. Most likely, you were born at another, seeing as you appear to be Banuk and not Nora.”  


Anukai’s chest continued to heave, but each breath seemed to do little to quell the burning that had begun to appear in her lungs, and she instinctually placed one hand to her chest, backing against the wall. She was vaguely aware of Ikrie’s voice beside her and the other huntress’s hands on her shoulders, but she couldn’t seem to concentrate to bring the blur of light and color before her into focus.  


Suddenly, she felt her knees give out and the grip on her shoulders intensified, stopping her from fully collapsing. Anukai felt herself slowly sink lower until she was seated on a hard surface, her back pressed against something equally as firm. Something warm wrapped across her torso and tried to focus on it, staring blankly at a splotch of blue amidst the wash of colors before her.  


Finally, after several long moments, her vision seemed to snap back into focus and she was able to discern that the blue shape was part of Ikrie’s tunic on her shoulder. The warmth across her chest was the other girl’s arms wrapped tightly around her, squeezing her torso tightly, even as she felt her shoulder digging into some bony part of the other girl.  


“…should be cognizant in a few moments,” another voice was saying, but Anukai didn’t immediately recognize it.  


After several more forced blinks, she lifted her head, noticing that Aloy now knelt before her, the glowing image of the woman she had called GAIA standing just behind her.  


“Hey, you okay?” the redhead asked.  


Anukai swallowed painfully and nodded slowly.  


“I’m sorry, that was… a lot to give you at once,” Aloy said.  


The younger redhead said nothing, but she felt Ikrie shift her position against her, prompting her to glance over to find the other huntress had pulled back slightly, turning to look at her with an expression of intense concern.  


“I’m okay,” Anukai sighed.  


Ikrie didn’t look convinced, so the redhead took a deep breath, leaning her forehead forward until theirs touched, closing her eyes.  


“I mean it.”  


She felt Ikrie nod ever so slightly and leaned back, finding the other huntress regarding her with a small smile.  


“You can let me know if you want to continue,” Aloy said, drawing her attention back to the older redhead. “Otherwise… we can give it time.”  


“No, I… I-I want to know,” Anukai said quickly.  


“Vital signs indicate that she is still in a heightened state,” the light-woman said, frowning. “It may be best to give her more time to return to a neutral state before continuing.”  


“A night’s rest can do a lot,” Aloy agreed, nodding.  


“No, I—”  


“GAIA is essentially what the Nora refer to as the goddess,” Aloy interrupted, smirking. “You may want to listen to her.”  


“But—”  


“Anukai, while you may be curious, you just suffered what is known as an acute panic attack,” the light-woman, GAIA, said. “This was caused by a strong dose of stress and intense sensory overload. Your body remains in a heightened state, even as you are able to speak and act normally, once again. I worry that if you were to receive additional stressors, you may suffer a more severe reaction.”  


The younger redhead stared back at the strange woman made of light for several long moments, blinking slowly.  


“I know we have not met before,” GAIA continued, “but I am concerned for you.”  


“Because I look like her?” Anukai said, nodding toward Aloy.  


“No, because you are a person, and I am concerned for all people,” the light-woman said insistently, her tone firm but her expression soft.  


“I’m sure we will be able to find a room for you two,” Aloy interjected. “We can talk in the morning.”  


Anukai looked like she wanted to argue, but even as she turned to Ikrie for support, she only found her staring back with a pleading look. Finally, the redhead sighed, her shoulders sagging in defeat.  


“Okay, fine.”  


Ikrie was finally able to coax Anukai back onto her feet, after which Aloy led them both out of the study, the image of GAIA quickly disappearing as they exited, although she reappeared in Anukai’s ear a moment later, seemingly speaking through the device.  


“I’ve been able to home into your Focus’s signal,” the soft voice said. “I will be able to communicate with you via your device, if you are not in a space where a room projection is available.”  


“So… uh… you’re… always able to hear me?” Anukai asked tentatively, glancing to Ikrie as she looked back at her curiously.  


“As need be,” GAIA replied. “While I will be available if you ask for me, I will not store the conversations you have with others that do not pertain to me.”  


“So… that sounds like a ‘yes.’”  


“Think of it like she’s always listening for you to ask for her, but she isn’t paying attention if you don’t say her name,” Aloy said, “and she’ll forget anything you say outside of those times when you ask for her.”  


Anukai still looked unconvinced, while Ikrie only looked even more confused.  


“Uh… where did this come from?” the other huntress asked.  


“GAIA, the light-woman, she’s… speaking to me… through this,” Anukai said, pointing to the device beside her ear.  


Ikrie eyed it even more warily as the redhead swallowed nervously.  


“I can remove it if I truly don’t want anyone listening, right?”  


A moment of hesitation followed her question before GAIA replied.  


“You certainly can. I apologize that my presence has made you concerned.”  


“I-I…” the redhead began before letting out a heavy sigh. “I think we need to talk more.”  


“GAIA, let’s let the girl rest for the night…”  


“No, you know what?”  


Anukai suddenly stopped where she was, turning toward Aloy.  


“Let’s talk now.”  


The older redhead frowned slightly, glancing around.  


“This is not the place.”  


“Then let’s find one,” she said. “First you tell me I was made from—someone else’s parts—and now there’s a woman made of light talking in my ear and telling me that she’s always listening to everything that I say!”  


Aloy cringed slightly at the younger redhead’s outburst, again glancing around, but they were still alone in the courtyard. Finally, she turned back to Anukai with a heavy sigh.  


“Fair enough. Let’s talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't touch that dial now, we're just getting started.


	6. An Oral History of Your Biography

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, once again.
> 
> 12,000 words coming your way this week. I got carried away, sorry. Plan accordingly.
> 
> Also, someone asked about the "dark" parts I mentioned at the beginning of this story, so I figured I'd give a little bit of a heads up.
> 
> While I don't know how truly "dark" things get, if you're squeamish/blood and gore aren't your things, you may want to brace yourselves in this chapter. I don't want to give away the scene, because it's written very intentionally, but just be wary from the start, I suppose.
> 
> We're gonna earn that M rating one way or another.
> 
> Also, gonna be updating/adding some tags, because while I tend to prefer to trend on the side of slightly more vague with the descriptions and postings, I've come to realize that I've perhaps been a little too much so with this fic, so it shouldn't give anything away, but just if you start to wonder if something changed, you're probably not imagining it.
> 
> With that in mind, come along, won't you?

As Aloy began to lead them farther along the hallway, away from the room they had just left, Ikrie tugged on Anukai’s arm, drawing her attention to her.  


“Are you sure you really want to do this?” she whispered.  


“Ikrie, I… I need to know.”  


The other huntress looked conflicted for several moments before taking a deep breath and releasing her arm, following after Aloy. The younger redhead watched her go for a moment in confusion before snapping out of her daze and walking quickly to catch up. Aloy had already turned onto a staircase set into the wall to the left, and Ikrie was about to turn into the doorway to follow her, but Anukai grabbed her arm at the last second and held her back.  


The other huntress turned around, her eyebrows raised as the younger redhead tore the Focus from beside her ear, holding it in her closed fist beside her.  


“Ikrie, what’s wrong?” she whispered.  


“You made up your mind. You wanted to talk with Aloy to get more answers, so we’re doing that.”  


“Ikrie…”  


The dark-haired girl sighed, glancing toward the stairway for a moment before stepping away from it, Anukai following her to the other side of the walkway.  


“You keep wanting to find out all these things, and I understand wanting to know and—understand,” Ikrie began, “but… it almost feels like you’re desperate to figure out that you’re someone else.”  


The redhead recoiled in surprise, nearly dropping the device in her hand as her grip relaxed.  


“W-what do you mean?”  


“The mountain called you another person’s name, and now the second woman we’ve found who looks almost exactly like you is saying that you’re some kind of… new version of the first one… and you just keep going deeper,” the dark-haired huntress continued, her voice hushed, but clearly just barely contained. “How much deeper do you have to go until you’ve convinced yourself you’re someone else?”  


Anukai continued to stare at Ikrie in shock as the Focus finally fell from her fingers, clattering on the floor. The dark-haired huntress closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she ran her hands over her face.  


“To me, you’ll always be… Anukai,” she finally said, letting her hands fall to her sides, “and that’s not a bad thing.”  


Ikrie began to turn to follow in the direction Aloy had gone a moment ago, but suddenly paused, turning back to the redhead, who was still incapable of forming words as, yet again, she seemed just barely able to convince her lungs and heart to continue functioning. The other girl stared back at her for a moment before suddenly stepping toward her.  


The next thing Anukai knew, Ikrie’s hands had slid along the sides of her cheeks and her face was incredibly close. The redhead’s eyes widened when she felt something warm and soft press against her lips, her heart seemingly coming to a full stop. The feeling only lasted for another moment or two before it disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving her heart pounding in a painful rhythm in her chest and temples in its wake.  


“I wanted to make sure I did that while I still knew who was receiving it.”  


With that, Ikrie quickly walked away, hopping onto the stairs and following after Aloy at a rapid pace, quickly disappearing from sight around a curve in the staircase. Anukai watched her go as one hand feebly raised after her, but ultimately fell to her side, once again, as something like a whimper escaped her throat.  


Finally, she regained her ability to move as she whirled in place, swinging her fist at the first thing that came into view, which happened to be a stone column at the edge of the courtyard behind her. Pain instantly exploded across her knuckles as they collided with the hard stone, but she hardly noticed, leaving her hand firmly pressed against the surface for several long seconds until the strength left her arm, once again, and it fell to her side.  


She staggered away from the column for a few steps before something on the ground before her caught her attention. When she glanced down, she found that it was the Focus device, laying in the center of the walkway where it bounced to after she had dropped it. Anukai quickly stepped over to it, crouching to grab it off the floor and holding it tightly in her fingers.  


The image of it snapped in half in her palm passed before her eyes for a moment, but just as her fingers began to press on it with more force, she stopped herself, staring down at the small, triangular device. The symbol on the outside glowed a soft blue color as she idly ran her thumb across it.  


“Blue light…” she sighed. “Probably heresy to destroy you… but this better mean something.”  


With that, she rose to her feet and held the device in her clenched fist for a moment before sliding it into a pouch on her belt and hurrying toward the stairs after the others. Once she reached what appeared to be the end of the staircase, she found herself standing on a balcony that overlooked the mass of low-lying ground that surrounded the city. She approached the stone railing before her and leaned against it, staring down at the squared pattern of green and brown ground hundreds of yards below her.  


After a few moments of staring at the ground below, she pushed away from the railing, glancing both directions along it until she spotted a head of red hair to her left.  


When she approached, she found Aloy and Ikrie talking, the older woman seeming rather invested in whatever the huntress was saying. Immediately, Anukai felt her palms grow slick with cold sweat, but she swallowed the lump in her throat and approached, purposefully taking a spot on the other side of Aloy.  


The older redhead glanced over at her approach, confusion creasing her face for a moment before she cleared her throat.  


“Everything okay?”  


The younger redhead immediately felt the lump return to her throat, so she simply nodded, leaning against the stone railing beside her. Aloy watched her in silence for a moment or two before clearing her throat.  


“Ikrie was telling me about where you’re from,” she said. “The Sheers.”  


Anukai simply nodded again, glancing over at the other two, but not saying anything. For a moment, she caught what seemed like surprise on Ikrie’s face, but she quickly turned her attention to Aloy, instead.  


“What about it?”  


“Sounds like a tough childhood,” Aloy sighed. “You had each other, though.”  


“If a Banuk didn’t have at least one other person,” Anukai sighed, “they’d probably be dead.”  


Something unreadable flashed across Aloy’s eyes before she cleared her throat, once again.  


“Well, now that we got the fun stuff out of the way…” she muttered. “You wanted answers, right?”  


Anukai nodded, but remained silent.  


“You… seem less excited, now.”  


“I still want to know.”  


A long, heavy silence fell over them for several moments before Aloy pressed further.  


“Well… where do you want to start?”  


“Who is this GAIA?”  


Aloy remained silent for a moment before she frowned, glancing toward Anukai.  


“Oh… you took yours off,” she said. “She was trying to talk, but… guess I’ll do it.”  


Anukai’s hand itched to reach into the pouch at her belt and slide the device beside her ear, once again, but she found her hands clenching before her, as if fighting the urge.  


“GAIA is something called an artificial intelligence,” Aloy began. “She was created by the Old Ones—specifically by Elisabet Sobeck—to help counteract the destruction of the world as they knew it.”  


“Elisabet… _made_ … her?” Anukai interjected, raising her eyebrows slightly.  


“Yes,” Aloy replied, nodding. “Although she may talk like a person, and she has an affinity for presenting herself in the image of one, she is not, and never was, truly a human being.”  


“How did… how is she made of light?”  


“That is what’s called a projection,” Aloy continued, tapping her fingers on the railing beside Anukai. “In the study, I installed devices that emit light that can then form images, that way I—or anyone else in the room—can see her and truly feel like they’re talking to her, even without one of these.”  


Aloy gestured to the device beside her ear and Anukai nodded.  


“Why can only I see things through that device?” the younger redhead asked. “I’ve—in Thunder’s Drum, there were images and figures made of light, too, but only I could see or hear them.”  


“It… that’s a complicated answer,” Aloy sighed. “The simple version we’ll go with is that it’s linked to the wearer, so that only you can perceive what it’s showing you.”  


Anukai didn’t look entirely convinced, but Aloy shook her head.  


“The specifics are way too much for us to get into right now,” she said. “Maybe in time.”  


A shiver ran down Anukai’s spine as the words of the nearly identical redhead from the trail earlier in the day rang in her ears, but she quickly tried to push past it as she focused on Aloy.  


“So we heard that you were Nora,” she continued. “You don’t particularly look like it, though.”  


Aloy let out a short, dry laugh as she shook her head.  


“I was raised in Nora lands,” she replied, “but I exist today despite them, not because of them.”  


The younger redhead raised her eyebrows as Aloy sighed.  


“I… was outcast, at birth,” she began. “I was raised by another outcast, but… we only really had each other. The Nora hated me, called me a curse and—other things—all until suddenly I was the only one who could save them.”  


“Why did you?”  


Aloy blinked as she stared back at the younger redhead with an unreadable expression.  


“I hated many of them, but… the actions of some members of the tribe weren’t enough to wish death upon them all.”  


Anukai felt her cheeks grow warm as she stared down at the railing, unable to meet the older redhead’s gaze.  


“What’s that for?”  


“Nothing, I… I don’t know if I could be so kind,” she said quietly.  


“Hate is a hard thing to hold, and even harder to let go.”  


Anukai glanced over as Aloy leaned on the railing beside her, looking to the younger redhead with a soft expression.  


“It took me many years and… some guidance… to realize that.”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments before Aloy cleared her throat, bringing Anukai’s attention back from the railing to her.  


“So, how old are you?”  


The younger redhead cleared her throat.  


“The end of the summer will be my twentieth year.”  


“Twenty?” Aloy repeated softly, staring off into the distance for a moment before shaking her head, as if clearing a daze. “Sorry, just… hit me more than I thought it would.”  


“Oh?”  


“I… never mind,” Aloy sighed, waving dismissively.  


Just then, the sound of footsteps began to echo from their right, and Anukai turned toward them, instantly growing tense as her hand instinctually reached toward her bowstring. A moment later, a figure appeared from where she presumed the exit of the stairwell was, glancing both ways. When they spotted the other three, they quickly turned and began to make their way toward them as Aloy let out a sigh.  


“I should have known I’d find you—whoa, wait,” the figure said, coming to a sudden stop several feet away from the other three.  


Anukai glanced her up and down, taking in the tight-fitting light blue, yellow, and red Carja silks, but also what seemed like metal armor fastened about her torso. Her headpiece that seemed to be helping to hold her dark hair back into the tight bun it was tied into was similar to many of the ones she had seen the Carja outlanders wear in the cut, with the intricate metalwork almost invoking the image of wings as it jutted back from the main band just behind her hairline. Combined with the bow over her shoulders, Anukai was beginning to get a picture of who the new figure was before she had said more than a sentence.  


“You’re not going crazy,” Aloy began, stepping around Anukai toward the woman, “and I don’t think you’re drunk.”  


“Haven’t had a drop all day, but… who is…? What…? How…? Is she…?”  


Aloy laughed as she approached the woman, placing her hands alongside her cheeks with a grin on her face.  


“She’s not. Breathe, thrush.”  


The woman’s expression quickly changed from one of confusion and awe to a raised eyebrow as she turned back to Aloy.  


“Who are _you_ calling Thrush?”  


“Got your attention.”  


The other woman let out a sigh as Aloy laughed, but quickly placed a kiss on her forehead. When the older redhead turned back to Anukai, the younger redhead found her wearing a much broader grin.  


“Talanah, this is Anukai,” she said, gesturing to the girl. “Anukai, this is my—uh, this is Talanah.”  


The younger redhead raised her eyebrows slightly as she noted the other woman eying her up and down, once again.  


“Did… you do something with GAIA that you forgot to tell me about?” she said, finally turning back to Aloy.  


“No, she—appeared—today.”  


Talanah raised one eyebrow at the older redhead.  


“Appeared?”  


“I’m assuming Bekan summoned you?”  


“How’d you guess?”  


“Did he think I needed you to come protect me?”  


“Actually… I think he thought I needed to come protect _her_ ,” Talanah said, nodding toward Anukai, “but he mentioned someone who looked exactly like you and I…”  


The dark-haired woman’s lips drew into a thin line as Aloy sighed, nodding tiredly.  


“I know, and… she’s not.”  


“I’m not what?” Anukai spoke up, straightening her posture.  


“It’s more of a question of _who_ you’re not,” Talanah replied.  


“Hold on,” Aloy said, placing a hand on the dark-haired woman’s shoulder insistently. “We’ve been through a lot so far, let’s… take this easy.”  


“Something else you need to tell me about?” Anukai replied, her jaw clenching.  


“We’ll work our way up to that, okay?” Aloy said. “I promise, but… after earlier…”  


“I thought we came up here so you could tell me the truth? You know, _talk_ ,” the younger redhead seethed.  


“Anukai…”  


A hand suddenly grabbed her arm just above the elbow and she jumped in surprise, glancing to her right to find Ikrie beside her, a pleading look in her eyes.  


“She’s not refusing, just… let’s give it time, okay?”  


The redhead looked like she wanted to argue further, but eventually deflated, letting out an exasperated sigh and shrugging dismissively.  


“Fine. _In time_ ,” she added with a jeering tone.  


When she turned back to the older women, she found them both watching her with concerned expressions, although Aloy’s conveyed… something different. Talanah appeared wary of her outburst, while the redhead’s expression bore something softer.  


“Let’s continue in the morning, okay?” Aloy said.  


Anukai nodded, but remained silent, unable to look over at Ikrie, again, despite how her grip on her arm seemed to burn and beg for her attention.  


“I’ll get you two set up with a room here for the night,” the older redhead said.  


With that, she beckoned for the girls to follow her. While the older women turned to begin walking, Anukai and Ikrie paused for a moment, the redhead finally looking back over at the dark-haired huntress, as she had refused to release her grip. They both seemed to debate saying something, but ultimately thought better of it as Ikrie gave the redhead’s arm one last squeeze before releasing it and nodding after the other two.  


“We should probably catch up.”  


They walked quickly after the older women until they reached the top of the staircase they had taken to the balcony, where they had paused to wait. As they began to descend, a smirk tugged at Anukai’s lips and she cleared her throat, breaking into the sound of their footsteps echoing about the stairwell.  


“So, Aloy…”  


The older redhead hummed in response, glancing back toward her.  


“ _Your_ Talanah, huh?”  


Aloy’s face began to turn a noticeable shade of red as she cleared her throat and turned back to the stairs ahead of them for a moment.  


“She’s my—uh—second in command.”  


“ _Second_?!”  


The dark-haired woman scoffed, stopping in place on the stairs and turning to Aloy with one hand braced on her hip, prompting the older redhead to skid to a stop before she ran into her.  


“Excuse me, _Councilwoman_ ,” Talanah continued, even as Aloy tried to urge her to continue down the stairs, “but I don’t know if you’re familiar with the chain of command.”  


“I am,” she replied, seemingly given up on trying to get the dark-haired woman to continue moving, “but maybe I wasn’t referring to the one from the _court_ room.”  


Almost instantly, Talanah’s face drained of color as her eyes widened, only for her cheeks to immediately begin filling with a deep scarlet. Aloy smirked, lightly patting the dark-haired woman on the cheek before slipping past her.  


“Come on, I’m sure the girls are exhausted.”  


Talanah glanced sheepishly toward Anukai and Ikrie, who were both clearly trying to hold back laughter, before turning and hurrying after the older redhead, who had already disappeared around the curve in the stairwell. The huntresses glanced toward each other before finally relenting and laughing quietly, but each of them quickly tried to quiet themselves as they continued after the other women.  


After rejoining Aloy and Talanah in the hallway along the courtyard, the older redhead led them through a maze of hallways and stairways until she finally came to a stop before a doorway and tapped the device beside her ear. Anukai watched her with curiosity as she appeared to poke at the thin air for several moments until she nodded and tapped the device, once again.  


“Okay, the room’s officially yours,” she said, glancing to Anukai and Ikrie before pushing the door beside her open and gesturing inside.  


The younger redhead stepped forward, glancing inside the doorway to find the one of the most lavish rooms she had ever seen, let alone been offered to stay in. The space was easily the size of three or four Banuk tents, with a single, large bed set against the wall to the right. The bed, itself, was draped with what appeared to be silk curtains, while the blanket bore a bright pattern that was recognizably Carja in design. Past the bed sat a small, wooden table with four chairs pushed into it; a short, wooden storage chest with several drawers sat against the wall just past the table, unlit candles adorning the top of it. Across the wall from the table appeared to be the opening to a small balcony, the darkening pink and orange sky of the sunset outside easily visible through it.  


“This… is all just a place to sleep for the night?” Anukai asked incredulously, turning to Aloy.  


“Well, you are in the Carja palace,” the older redhead smirked, “but also it’s intended to be like an apartment—like a small home—to stay in for a short while, if need be.”  


“A short while?”  


“Well, something tells me you didn’t come here just to spend a night in Meridian and leave,” Aloy smirked. “Even if you did… well, enjoy it. My treat.”  


Anukai glanced to Ikrie, who had moved beside her to glance into the room and was looking as impressed as she felt. The dark-haired huntress glanced to her, shrugging, before turning back to Aloy.  


“Thank you.”  


“We’ll talk in the morning,” the older redhead said, nodding. “I’ll come get you, two. I take it you don’t prefer to sleep late?”  


“I… uh… we…” Anukai replied, glancing to Ikrie, who looked equally as lost.  


“I’ll meet you shortly after sunrise,” Aloy said, laughing. “Sleep well.”  


With that, the huntresses stepped into the room, Ikrie taking the door from Aloy and closing it behind them. The sound of retreating footsteps echoed from the other side of the wooden portal for several moments, before they finally disappeared entirely, leaving the girls in near total silence as they moved farther into the room, glancing around.  


Anukai noticed a door just past the table she had seen earlier and stepped over to it, pushing it open to find a smaller room beyond, complete with what appeared to be a rather large ceramic bowl below a metal spigot jutting from the wall. A highly-polished piece of glass was also fixed to the wall just above the spigot, and as the redhead stepped into the room farther, she found that it quite clearly presented her reflection.  


Immediately upon seeing herself, she paused for a moment, her eyes immediately tracing over her face as she tried to mentally compare it to the one she had just seen moments ago outside, a shiver running down her spine as the similarities truly began to sink in to her. The second thing she noticed was how much dirt and dried sweat caked her face, leaving her to debate which exactly were freckles and which were not. With a grimace, she turned away from the reflection and glanced around at what looked like a porcelain seat and a larger, copper basin.  


“I’ve only ever heard stories about rooms like these.”  


Anukai jumped at the sound of Ikrie’s voice, whirling to find her in the doorway, leaning against the frame as she glanced around the space, as well.  


“What?”  


“Carja wash rooms,” she replied. “The outlanders always talked about how they had these large, public ones, but the nobles had smaller, personal ones, too.”  


“Huh…”  


As Anukai moved to slip by Ikrie, the dark-haired huntress stepped into the room.  


“Oh, wow.”  


“What?”  


Anukai glanced back to find Ikrie making a face of disgust as she ran a finger along the side of her face.  


“The warm weather and desert sand did not do wonders for our first impressions, I think.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes as a smirk tugged at her lips and she turned to make her way toward the balcony across the room. As she stepped out onto it, her eyes were immediately drawn to the dark silhouettes of the mountains in the distance, framed against the last remnants of the sunset behind them. A heavy sigh escaped her as she leaned forward against the railing, folding her arms on the stone surface before her. A few moments later, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching, but didn’t turn to look until she sensed Ikrie’s presence beside her. When she did, found the dark-haired huntress mimicking her posture, her eyes half-closed as she stared out at the scenery.  


“Reminds me of the Sheers,” she said softly.  


Anukai nodded slowly, her gaze turning down toward her arms as one hand idly picked at the stone railing.  


“Just without the freezing to death part.”  


They both laughed softly before Anukai let out a heavy sigh.  


“I’m sorry.”  


The sound of Ikrie shifting her position came from beside her before the other girl cleared her throat.  


“I noticed you took that—metal thing—off, too.”  


Anukai nodded.  


“I… it was a little too much, right then.”  


After several long moments, Ikrie let out a heavy sigh, finally drawing Anukai’s attention to her to find the other girl had turned toward her, folding her arms over her chest.  


“I’m sorry, too, that I was so harsh,” she said, “but… it was something I felt I needed to say.”  


“I understand.”  


“And… I’m glad I did,” she finished. “I… I’m not leaving, to be clear.”  


Anukai nodded, her lips pulling into a thin line.  


“What we’ve experienced so far has been… a lot to comprehend,” the dark-haired girl continued, “but I can’t pretend like there’s not the feeling that something important is happening here. I just… I hope you can feel the weight of what we’re getting ourselves into.”  


“I do,” Anukai shot back quickly, before flinching and taking a deep breath, repeating herself much more slowly and calmly. “I do.”  


Finally, the redhead turned on the railing, standing up straight.  


“I’ve met two women who look exactly like me, entered an ancient mountain, and talked to a woman made of light that has been referred to as a goddess by both of those women, now,” she began. “Believe me, I’m feeling the weight.”  


Ikrie’s expression cracked as Anukai squirmed slightly under the outpouring of concern.  


“Then we’ll keep looking for answers,” the dark-haired huntress said. “Just… be mindful of yourself during.”  


“I’m not—” Anukai began, her tone immediately heated, once again, before she caught herself and took a deep breath, running her hands over her face. “I’m not trying to change myself. I’m not trying to lose myself, Ikrie.”  


“I—”  


“If anything, I want to know who I really am.”  


“You already know that.”  


“Do I?”  


“I already told you…”  


Ikrie stepped forward, grabbing her upper arms securely.  


“You’re Anukai. I’ve known you my whole life. Do you trust me?”  


“Yes.”  


“Then believe me.”  


“I do.”  


Ikrie opened her mouth, as if to say something else, but eventually let out a heavy sigh, her grip loosening as her hands began to fall away. Just then, Anukai stepped forward, closing the gap between them, but ultimately hesitated. At the last moment, she leaned forward, pressing her forehead against Ikrie’s as she placed one hand on the back of the dark-haired huntress’s head.  


She drew a breath, but a moment later whatever words she had intended to say seemed to disappear as she closed her eyes tightly. Her pulse was pounding her temples as she felt her fingers begin to tremble slightly, and she focused on trying to still them.  


She felt Ikrie shift slightly, lifting her head for a moment, but ultimately pausing as the redhead’s eyes slid open, once again. Just as they did, she felt Ikrie’s hand on the back of her head, as well, mimicking her grip. Notably to Anukai, however, was how her fingers trembled ever so slightly, as well.  


Finally, they both released each other and Anukai hesitated a moment before taking a short step backward.  


“We should probably get some sleep,” she said, fingers idly playing with the bowstring across her torso.  


Ikrie hesitated for a moment before nodding, clearing her throat.  


“Yeah, maybe.”  


As they moved back into the room, they shed their weapons and equipment against the wall across from the foot of the bed, both of them stretching stiffly with the release of the weight and strain. With a quiet groan, Ikrie made her way over to the bed and took a seat on the edge of it, yawning. Almost immediately, though, she made a sound of surprise and pressed on the bed beside her with one hand.  


“It’s so soft,” she commented.  


Anukai nodded, eying the bed, as well, before grabbing her bedroll from amidst her things.  


“What are you doing?”  


She glanced back, eyebrows raised as she held her bedroll to her chest.  


“What do you mean?”  


Ikrie rolled her eyes before patting the bed beside her insistently.  


“Put that thing down.”  


Anukai laughed softly, glancing down at the bedroll before turning and carefully dropping it beside her things. With a sigh, she padded across the room before pausing beside the far side of the bed. With a glance to Ikrie, who still had her back to the redhead as she stretched her arms across her chest, she shed the outer portions of her outfit until only the blue fabric tunic and dyed leather leggings remained. After dropping the dusty, sand-covered outer portions on the floor against the wall behind her, she fell onto the bed.  


Immediately, she was struck by the same thing as Ikrie, pressing her hands into the fabric of the blanket underneath her. Almost instantly, she felt all tension in her body release as she let out a slow, heavy sigh, her eyes sliding closed for a moment. After taking a few moments to soak in the feeling, she began to undo the braid in her hair, trying not to focus on the slick, greasy feeling beneath her fingers. Finally, she managed to undo the tie at the tip of the braid and began to pull apart the strands of hair that made it up. Once she had managed to pull the last pieces free of the shape they had been stuck in for several days, she ran her hands through the unruly mane that had been unleashed about her shoulders, grimacing when her fingers caught at knots and snarled portions.  


Finally, with a sigh, she gave up on trying to tame it any further and simply tossed the fabric tie that had once held it all together on top of her clothing across from her. Almost immediately, she swung her legs onto the bed as she turned and lay lengthwise, her head coming to a rest on a pillow far softer than her jacket had been the past few nights.  


Her eyes closed for a moment, once again, as she felt the bed shake and jostle slightly as the sounds of Ikrie moving beside her prompted her to roll her head to one side. As her eyes opened, she immediately froze, finding that the tension had immediately returned to her body. Ikrie had ditched the outer portions of her outfit, as well, but had also stripped from the tunic down to the simple, blue fabric wrap beneath it. From what Anukai could tell, as well, she had also removed the outer portion of her leggings, as well, leaving a similar fabric wrap that typically remained beneath them in place.  


Immediately, Anukai rolled onto her side, facing the wall across from her, as she hoped that the sound of her heartbeat wasn’t nearly as audible to the other huntress as it was in her own ears. A few moments later, she felt the bed give under the weight of the other girl as she laid on it, seemingly unfazed by the redhead’s sudden change in position.  


“And I thought it was warm in Nora lands…” Ikrie sighed.  


Anukai could only let out a “mhm” in response, but remained on her side, staring at the brown stone of the wall.  


“Comfortable, right?”  


“What?”  


The redhead froze at how fast her response had been, holding her breath as she waited for Ikrie to answer.  


“The bed… it’s comfortable, right?”  


“Oh… yeah…” Anukai mumbled. “Really comfortable.”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments before the sound of Ikrie yawning reached her ears and Anukai shifted her position slightly.  


“Hopefully you’ll wake up easier tomorrow than you did this morning,” Ikrie teased.  


The image of the other huntress atop her, as she had seen her in the brief glimpse a moment ago, immediately ran through Anukai’s mind and she swallowed the thick lump that had appeared in her throat, her heart now threatening to fight its way out of her ribcage with its frenzied pounding. She could only make a half-hearted attempt at what sounded like laughter before she quickly squeezed her eyes closed, trying to adjust her position on the bed, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t alleviate the energy that now seemed to be coursing through every limb, borne by her blood.  


Thankfully, the other huntress fell silent, her slow, measured breathing giving way how she had fallen asleep only minutes later. Anukai tried to focus on its rhythm as a means of aligning her own, but she could only find herself with the urge to look back over her shoulder. Finally, when it was evident that her mind would not let her relax until she appeased it, she carefully cracked her eyes open and rolled her shoulder slightly, glancing back.  


Immediately, she caught the sheen of moonlight on far too much skin and she quickly faced forward, once again, her jaw clenching as she found her heart rate skyrocketing, once again.  


“Damn you, Ikrie,” she muttered under her breath, “and damn you… me.”  


What felt like hours later, she was finally able to keep her eyes closed and slip into a state at least somewhere between awake and asleep. As soon as she had begun to relax, she suddenly felt motion beneath her and her eyes began to crack open. Something warm wrapped around her midsection and she immediately froze, eyes widening. Soon after, the warmth appeared against her back, bringing with it the sensation of something physical pressed against her, as well.  


She swallowed the lump in her throat as the warm object around her midsection lifted, only for something to brush against the side of her neck as she felt fingers wrap around her hair, pulling it aside.  


“Can’t sleep?”  


The voice was breathy and almost directly in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. Almost immediately, something warm and slightly wet pressed against her neck, just below her jaw, and an uncontrollable whimper escaped her, quickly prompting her to clench her jaw even tighter, her entire body going rigid.  


“I’ll take that as a yes.”  


The voice was light and teasing, even as the sensation came again, this time in a different spot on the side of her neck. A moment later, the warm object wrapped across her chest and she felt herself being pulled toward it, until she fell onto her back. Almost immediately, her eyes focused on the pale face illuminated in a silvery blue light, framed by dark hair, and her heart seemed to stop for a moment.  


“Good thing I can’t, either.”  


As she stared up at the face, something began to register in the back of her mind. The structure was… wrong. It was narrower, the cheekbones were less pronounced, and they weren’t covered in a dusting of freckles.  


“So… what are two people who can’t sleep in the middle of the night bound to do?”  


Warm fingers suddenly danced about Anukai’s throat, sliding gently across her collarbone before moving up onto the side of her neck, and eventually behind her head, immediately entwining in her hair. The next thing she knew, the face had drawn incredibly close, and the same warm, wet feeling was now pressed against her lips. She found her own parting instinctually, but the feeling disappeared a moment later as the face pulled back.  


A low, chesty laugh came from the figure as Anukai felt the warm, weighted presence suddenly spread over her legs, pinning them in place. For a moment, the face over her disappeared into a shadow, only to reappear a moment later, a little to the left of where it had vanished. As it reappeared, the redhead’s eyes widened.  


It had changed, again.  


Now it was all too familiar.  


She couldn’t stop staring at the field of freckles beneath the dark eyes…  


She squeezed her eyes closed tightly, only to feel the warm, wet feeling on her forehead.  


“Can’t tell if you’re dreaming?”  


A half-groan, half-whimper escaped her before she finally opened her eyes, once again, only to find that the face had returned to the more unfamiliar one, although she did note that the light now revealed much more than a face, every inch of skin lit by the silver light from somewhere to the right.  


“I get the feeling.”  


As the face and body began to lean toward her, once again, Anukai caught something else amidst the darkness behind it. Something else seemed to shine slightly in the blackness of whatever space surrounded them. She tried to focus on it, only to realize that it was moving, and seemed to be getting closer.  


Just as her eyes squinted slightly to try to make it out, it seemed to shoot forward in a flurry of motion. The figure over her let out a sound something like a choked gag as Anukai suddenly felt something wet and hot across her torso. The face looked down, only for her to suddenly be yanked backward and off of the redhead. Immediately, the figure reached toward her, even as Anukai’s eyes locked on what appeared to be a black, metal appendange that was now protruding from her stomach, a ring of vermilion blood running from around it.  


“Lis!” the figure shrieked as she was yanked backward into the darkness, her arms outstretched.  


Almost immediately, a glowing, red eye appeared from the darkness and Anukai heard a heavy, mechanical whirring beginning to rise in volume. Her heart was pounding as she frantically scrambled backward, trying to put distance between it and herself. A moment later, however, something seemed to swarm out of the darkness and engulf her feet. Intense, burning pain immediately appeared in them as she tried to kick whatever it was away, but it was no use as she could only watch the flesh stripped from her until only the bloody skeleton remained.  


A scream of genuine terror ripped its way from her as the cloud began to move up her legs, reducing each inch to blood-soaked bone as it went. No matter what she did, the presence only seemed to move faster, until she could see it moving past her chest, the skin parting to reveal her pounding heart moments before it too was devoured. As her head fell backward, her eyes wide and mouth open as if to scream, she suddenly found herself staring up at a face, once again.  


She paused for a moment, unable to comprehend how it had appeared before her, only to feel herself shaken violently.  


“Anukai, wake up, now!”  


She blinked several times, but the face didn’t disappear.  


It seemed familiar, too.  


Finally, her eyes locked onto the freckles, the pronounced cheekbones…  


She blinked several more times for good measure as Ikrie contained to stare down at her, panting slightly.  


“There you go… it’s okay… it’s okay…” the other girl breathed.  


A moment later, Anukai swallowed painfully at the rough, burning feeling in her throat, and the other girl sighed heavily, letting her head hang for a moment before she seemed to fall forward, instantly wrapping her arms around the redhead in a tight embrace.  


“I’ve never heard you scream like that…” the dark-haired girl said softly, her voice muffled by the redhead’s shoulder.  


“I’m okay…” Anukai managed, her voice as rough and gravelly as her throat felt.  


“I don’t believe that,” Ikrie replied, shaking her head while simultaneously keeping it buried against the redhead. “You sounded like you were dying.”  


The phrase instantly sent a shiver down Anukai’s spine, which only prompted Ikrie to grip her tighter.  


“What happened?”  


The redhead didn’t reply for several moments, but instead slowly reached up to wrap her arms around the other girl, as well, noting how her hands shook as they met behind her back.  


“Nightmare.”  


“I know,” Ikrie replied almost immediately, “but… you’ve been waking up every night since we left the Cut after some kind of nightmare. What happened this time?”  


“I… I don’t know if I can…”  


“Anukai…” Ikrie began, suddenly releasing the redhead as she propped her hands on the bed just above the redhead’s shoulders and pushed herself up until she could look her in the eyes, “tell me. _Now_.”  


The redhead swallowed nervously and drew a shaky breath.  


“I-I… I thought I was here… thought you woke me up… but…” she paused, her mind racing, “it wasn’t you. Then… something… something stabbed that other person… grabbed her and dragged her backward. Then… something… this… _swarm_ … appeared and… dammit, Ikrie, I watched it strip the flesh from my bones u-until…”  


Immediately, Ikrie’s eyes widened as Anukai closed hers, trying with all her willpower to hold back the hot, wet feeling that had formed at the corners of them. A moment later, she felt Ikrie wrap her in a tight embrace, once again, the huntress’s chin coming to rest on Anukai’s shoulder. The redhead instantly wrapped her arms around the other girl as tightly as she could, the first hot tear running down her cheek.  


A moment later, she felt Ikrie’s hand slowly running across her back.  


“It’s okay… it’s okay…” the huntress whispered. “You’re alive… it’s okay…”  


They remained wrapped in the tight embrace for a long while, until Anukai felt the tears stop and the trembling in her hands had steadied. The entire time, Ikrie’s hand continued to run gently across the redhead’s back, providing something constant to focus on, and telling her that she hadn’t simply fallen asleep, even as she remained silent.  


Finally, Anukai took a deep breath, prompting Ikrie to pull back slightly, turning her head to look toward her.  


“Your heart stopped racing,” she said softly.  


Anukai nodded, unable to meet Ikrie’s eyes.  


“Is it… everything that happened yesterday?” she asked. “It just… got into your head?”  


“I don’t know…”  


“Did it have anything to do with the other nightmares?”  


“I… I don’t know, Ikrie…”  


Anukai began to shake her head, but the other huntress suddenly propped herself up, once again, but this time pressed her hands on the redhead’s shoulders to do so.  


“Anukai, I’ve never known you to have nightmares like this since we were little,” she said. “With what’s been happening lately, I don’t think it’s a good sign.”  


“I mean…”  


“You’re not arguing against me,” she pointed out. “You said they weren’t omens, Anukai, but… were you telling the truth?”  


The redhead’s jaw clenched tightly as she continued to avoid Ikrie’s gaze, but the other girl simply moved in her way.  


“Anukai.”  


“I don’t know—honestly!” the redhead snapped. “They’re… they’re strange, and…”  


“Tell me about them.”  


Anukai opened her mouth to argue, but Ikrie quickly placed one finger over her lips, stopping her.  


“After everything that’s happened in the past two days, and just now, you need to give me an explanation, Anukai,” she said. “I’m sick of being in the dark while you’re apparently suffering… and I’m not going to let that keep happening.”  


Before the redhead could even attempt to utter a response, Ikrie suddenly leaned forward, and Anukai’s eyes widened as she felt the same feeling from her dream against her lips, once again.  


Once, earlier, had been one thing, but now…  


A moment later, Ikrie pulled away, only to brace her forehead against Anukai’s, one hand gently laying alongside her head.  


“I won’t let you deal with whatever this is alone. I-I can’t…” she said softly, her voice cracking.  


They remained like that for several long moments before Anukai nodded, exhaling slowly through her nose. Ikrie gently ran her thumb across the redhead’s temple before pulling back and finally climbing off her, taking a cross-legged position on the other half of the bed as Anukai pulled herself into a seated position with her back against the wall at the head of the bed.  


She began to describe the first dreams she had, starting with the mostly innocuous one of waking up in a different tent before they had even left the Cut, before moving into the location-skipping strangeness of the first night at the base of the mountains. As she recounted the story, the image of the two older redheads she had seen it passed through her mind, and she couldn’t help but notice that even though they both looked similar, one of them was more so than the other.  


Finally, she described the details of standing on the strange wooden plank on a mountainside, speaking with the woman in the brightly-colored dress, and then the strange stone room where she had thought she had seen Ikrie. After she finished, she stared at the blanket between them for a moment, her heart pounding in her ears as the faces of the various figures continued to run through her mind, some of them becoming increasingly familiar.  


“These… mostly seem strange, but not like the nightmare you just had,” Ikrie said slowly.  


“I know who some of the people in them are…”  


“What?” Ikrie replied, leaning closer.  


“The people in those dreams, I just realized who some of them are,” Anukai repeated, glancing up from the blanket to the other girl.  


“Who?”  


“I-I think one was… Aloy, or maybe… Elisabet,” she said. “The woman in the dress… I think she had the same voice as that light-woman I saw inside the Nora mountain.”  


“I didn’t see her,” Ikrie replied slowly.  


“It was… through the… thing,” the redhead replied, gesturing to her ear before shaking her head dismissively, “but that last one, the person I thought was you… I think it was that Talanah woman we just met.”  


Ikrie frowned.  


“You saw someone you hadn’t even met, yet?”  


“I mean… have you ever felt like you have?”  


“Sometimes, but… I don’t ever remember dreaming of them so vividly,” the other girl replied, shaking her head. “You’re sure?”  


“At least about the Aloy or Elisabet woman,” she nodded. “She… it was the same face. I’m sure of it.”  


“And you said it was like she spoke to you…?”  


“It certainly felt that way.”  


Ikrie bit her lower lip as she stared back at the redhead, not saying anything for several long moments.  


“Do you think… it has something to do with what Aloy said… about how I’m related to Elisabet Sobeck and her?” Anukai said slowly.  


The other girl shrugged, letting out a defeated sigh as her shoulders sagged.  


“I don’t know,” she said. “If everything they’ve said is true—”  


“Look at Aloy and me!” Anukai interjected. “You can’t say that doesn’t lend itself to it being true to some extent!”  


“It’s… definitely strange,” Ikrie replied calmly, reaching forward and placing a hand on the redhead’s leg, “but that’s why we’re here, and why we’re going to keep talking to Aloy.”  


Anukai nodded slowly, breathing a heavy sigh as she rubbed at her eyes tiredly.  


“And we’re still looking for those boxes of information or… whatever.”  


When she glanced back to Ikrie, she found her staring back with a tight-lipped expression.  


“Yeah… that, too.”  


“Aloy doesn’t seem like how we… feared,” Anukai continued.  


“No, and…”  


Ikrie sighed.  


“Never mind.”  


“Hold on,” the redhead interjected, suddenly reaching forward and grabbing the other girl’s wrist, “you’ve made me tell you all of this. You don’t get to just say ‘never mind’ and move on. What are you thinking?”  


Ikrie let out an even heavier sigh as she closed her eyes.  


“I don’t know what to think,” she finally said. “Part of me feels like… there’s much more to this that we don’t know about, yet.”  


Anukai stared back at her, but when Ikrie opened her eyes, she only stared down at her lap, not meeting the redhead’s gaze. Finally, she released the dark-haired huntress from her grasp and fell back against the wall behind her.  


“Yeah, guess we’ll find out.”  


Several long moments passed in silence before the other girl finally looked up from her lap to Anukai.  


“Do you feel like you can sleep, again?”  


The redhead shrugged.  


“Have to try.”  


Ikrie frowned, but moved to lay on the bed, once again, as Anukai slid lower until she laid flat, as well. Several moments before the redhead swallowed the lump in her throat that had formed.  


“Just in case…” she said softly.  


A moment later, Ikrie’s arm wrapped over her chest as she felt the other girl move up against her, leaning her head against the redhead’s shoulder.  


“I’ll be right here.”  


Anukai reached one hand up to gently place it on Ikrie’s arm, squeezing it for a moment before ultimately leaving it there, her eyes slowly sliding closed.  


Like the past few nights, the remainder of the night passed without any further vivid dreams or nightmares, however she did have an overarching feeling of warmth and warm colors that passed before her eyes. When she finally blinked them open, she realized that the warm colors may actually have been from the sunlight that was now shining directly on her through the opening in the balcony door.  


She quickly turned her head to the side, groaning softly as she blinked against the bright spots that bloomed before her eyes. The sound and motion didn’t seem to be enough to wake Ikrie, however, who remained fast asleep beside her. Although her arm was no longer wrapped across the redhead’s chest, one hand laid across her stomach, while she also noted how one of her legs had draped over hers, at some point, as well.  


Anukai paused, glancing over at the tranquil huntress beside her for a moment before she found a smile tugging at her lips. Her hand that wasn’t pinned to her side by the other girl slowly reached toward the head of dark hair beside her, but she seemed to think better of it at the last moment and instead let it fall on her chest with a sigh.  


Seemingly at the movement and sound, Ikrie began to stir. Her eyes blinked open slowly before she slowly lifted her head, drowsily looking up at the redhead. They stared back at each other for a moment or two before the dark-haired girl blinked and a greater sense of alertness began to return to her eyes.  


“You sleep?” she asked, her voice rough and groggy.  


Anukai nodded.  


“Good…”  


Ikrie’s hand gently patted her stomach as she let her head fall onto the bed beside Anukai’s shoulder, once again. They remained suspended in a calm silence for several moments before the question that had been ricocheting about Anukai’s head finally seemed to find its way to her tongue.  


“Ikrie…” she began.  


The other girl lifted her head, once again, her eyebrows slightly raised.  


“I…”  


She swallowed the heavy lump in her throat as the pounding in her chest and ears began to grow louder.  


“Yesterday… you… uh… it was one thing… but… you… again… last night…”  


The other girl stared back at her with a look somewhere between confusion and curiosity for a moment before she finally seemed to decode what Anukai was trying to say and she let out a soft “oh,” beginning to pull her hand back as her leg lifted from over the redhead’s. In an instant, Anukai’s hand shot to Ikrie’s, holding her in place and prompting the other girl to jump slightly.  


“I just… I want to know…”  


The dark-haired girl remained silent for several moments before taking a slow, deep breath in.  


“I mean… I think I have, for a while, I just…”  


She finally looked back up at Anukai as the redhead noted what appeared to be the same level of nervousness that she could feel in her own chest.  


“I think I was pretty definitive…”  


The redhead continued to meet her gaze for several long moments before she swallowed nervously, taking a deep breath in through her nose.  


Almost without fully realizing it, she found herself leaning toward the other huntress, her heart pounding louder than she had ever heard it before. Just as their faces drew within mere inches of each other’s, the sound of a loud knocking on the door prompted both of them to jump in surprise, accidentally hitting their foreheads against each other, instead.  


Both of them whirled toward the door and remained still for a moment or two before the knocking came again. They both sighed heavily, Anukai glancing over to see Ikrie holding her palm to her forehead with an annoyed expression. The redhead smirked as she turned to slide off the bed, absentmindedly rubbing at the painful spot on her forehead, as well, before approaching the door and carefully opening it a crack.  


A familiar face grinned back at her from the hallway outside.  


“Did I wake you?”  


Anukai sighed, opening the door slightly further as she leaned against the frame.  


“We were already awake,” she said, “just surprised us, still.”  


“Sorry,” Aloy replied, laughing. “I can see you’re not quite ready. I’ll give you a few minutes.”  


Anukai nodded, yawning as Aloy grinned wider.  


“And maybe we’ll get you some food and coffee, first.”  


“Coffee?”  


“Oh, you’ll see.”  


Anukai gave her a wary expression but Aloy simply made a shooing gesture.  


“Go get ready, and then we’ll talk.”  


The younger redhead nodded and closed the door, once again. When she turned back to the room, she found Ikrie releasing the portion of the blanket that she had evidently pulled over herself, sighing heavily.  


“Well, I guess it is sunrise,” she sighed, rising from the bed, as well.  


Anukai nodded, continuing to watch the girl as she stretched her arms and back. As she finished, the redhead approached the end of the bed, leaning against one of the posts at the foot. Ikrie rubbed at her face with both hands for a moment before letting her arms fall to her sides with a sigh, seemingly noticing how Anukai had approached and raising her eyebrows slightly.  


“Everything okay?”  


The redhead nodded, hesitating a moment longer before pushing off the post and beginning to move around the bed to grab the portions of her clothing she had discarded the night before. Once they were all in hand, she turned to move toward the wash room they had found the day before, but not before glancing toward Ikrie. The dark-haired huntress remained exactly where she had stood moments ago, but was looking to the redhead with a somewhat dazed, but softly smiling expression on her face.  


Anukai smirked as she began to make her way toward the wash room.  


“You should probably start getting ready,” she called. “Aloy’s waiting.”  


Once she stepped inside the wash room, she pushed the door closed behind her, dropping her clothing on the floor just inside it. A slight frown tugged at her lips as she glanced between the smaller, ceramic wash basin to her left and the larger, copper one to her right. Finally, she settled on the larger one and twisted the handle on the left spigot above the far end. Water immediately began to fill the large, metal tub, the redhead noting how it seemed to steam, even as it had only just hit the bottom of the metal container. She carefully held a few fingers under the stream, only to let out a hiss as she yanked her hand backward, the temperature of the water feeling as if it had burned her, even just from the brief touch.  


Shaking her hand, she turned the spigot off before trying the other one, out of curiosity. This time, the water was nowhere near as hot, but also not particularly warm. Eventually, she settled on turning both spigots on for a minute, until the copper tub had filled roughly half-full. Turning both off, she quickly stripped the remainder of her sweat-soaked clothing off and tentatively stepped into the water. It was warm, but not as scalding as the initial test had been, so she was easily able to settle in without much pain.  


Once in the water, she was tempted to simply remain there for a while, the feeling of it incredibly relaxing, however she quickly forced herself to begin scrubbing at the layer of sweat and grime that seemed to have affixed itself to her. Finally, when it came to her hair, she gave it her best attempt, but her fingers still did not easily run through it. With a sigh, she decided it was as good as she was going to get it and collected herself to get out of the warm water, once again.  


She glanced around to find some folded, soft cloths to one side of the tub and quickly grabbed one, using it to wipe herself off, only to glance at her clothes on the floor and grimace slightly.  


“Oh, right…”  


With a sigh, she pulled the dirty clothing back on, squirming at the feeling of the undergarments, in particular, still feeling wet against her skin. Finally, once she was fully dressed, she gathered the wet cloth and turned back to the tub behind her, scanning over it until she noticed a small, metal knob at the bottom, under the water. After reaching her hand in to grab it, she pulled the plug free, allowing the water to begin draining slowly.  


As she stepped out of the wash room, she found Ikrie already dressed and pacing by the bed, her arms folded over her chest. The other girl glanced up at Anukai before looking her up and down.  


“So that’s what took you so long,” she said, smirking.  


“Like you said,” Anukai sighed, hanging the wet cloth from the back of one of the chairs at the table, “the heat and the sand probably didn’t make for a good first impression.”  


The other huntress rolled her eyes as Anukai smirked and stepped over to it, coming to a stop before glancing toward the door.  


“So, ready?”  


Ikrie paused for a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek, before focusing on the redhead, once again.  


“Are you?”  


Anukai took a deep breath, glancing toward the door, again.  


“Yeah.”  


With that, they exited the room where they had spent the night, immediately finding Aloy standing outside, leaning against the far wall as she stared vacantly at the air before her. At the sound of the door, she quickly tapped something in the air in front of her before also tapping the device at her ear.  


“Ready, girls?”  


They both nodded, but Aloy frowned slightly when she glanced at Anukai.  


“Did you bring your Focus?”  


The younger redhead reached into the pouch at her belt, producing the small device and holding it up for her to see.  


“Good, you’re probably going to need it.”  


“For what?”  


“You’ll see. Come on, I’m hungry, now, and I’m sure you are, too.”  


With that, Aloy quickly set the pace leading back along the hallway outside the room. Within a few minutes, and after many twists and turns in various hallways, they entered a long room with a reasonably high ceiling. Long, wooden tables sat in rows lengthwise down the room, all leading to a long, stone counter that sported a line of people standing on either side.  


“The palace’s dining hall,” Aloy explained. “Mainly for the people who work here, but visitors are welcome, too.”  


The girls followed the older redhead to the line, taking their places behind her until they reached the end of the stone countertop. The people on the other side greeted Aloy with smiles, only to glance to Anukai with widened eyes.  


“Long story,” Aloy said, nodding to the younger girl. “She’s with me.”  


“I would certainly say so,” the first man in the row said, eying her up and down. “You all having your usual, Aloy?”  


The “usual” was apparently a plate with two, thin strips of cooked meat, a piece of bread, and a strange, green fruit that neither huntress had seen before, all complemented with a metal mug of a hot, steaming liquid.  


As they took seats at a nearby table, Ikrie grabbed the fruit off her plate, turning it over in her hands.  


“What is this?”  


Aloy swallowed the piece of meat that she had evidently shoved into her mouth a moment ago before replying.  


“Apple. Never had one?”  


Ikrie shook her head.  


“Just bite into it. It’s sweet.”  


The huntress obliged, ripping off a piece before her eyes widened.  


“You weren’t kidding,” she said.  


“Good, though, right?”  


The huntress nodded, prompting Anukai to try hers. As they had both said, it was incredibly sweet to the taste, but she found that she particularly enjoyed it, especially the crunch that the meat of it seemed to have.  


“That particular kind is somewhat of a… recent re-development.”  


“Re-development?” Anukai repeated.  


“This fruit was around in the time of the Old Ones,” she explained, taking a bite of her own, “but was not re-introduced to the world until about… ten years ago?”  


“How does a fruit just suddenly re-introduce itself?” Ikrie asked.  


“On its own, very rarely,” Aloy sighed, “but this was an effort by Meridian’s best scholars of agriculture… with a little help from APOLLO and DEMETER.”  


“Who?”  


Aloy smirked, swallowing the other piece of meat on her plate.  


“We’ll get there.”  


Anukai sighed, staring dejectedly down at her plate as she continued eating.  


“I don’t mean to sound like I’m avoiding answering,” Aloy said, prompting the younger redhead to look up at her. “There’s just a lot of groundwork we should set, first.”  


“And that’s what we’re going to talk about after this?”  


Aloy nodded before gesturing to the mug beside Anukai’s plate.  


“You should try that.”  


She hesitantly grabbed the mug, sniffing the liquid inside before wrinkling her face at the strong odor. A moment later, however, she blew on the surface and took a small sip. Immediately, a bitter taste spread throughout her mouth, combining with the sting of the temperature and prompting her to lean away from the mug, shaking her head.  


“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad,” Aloy said, taking a drink of her own.  


“Maybe it’s something you get used to,” Anukai said, placing the mug on the table and sliding it away from herself.  


Ikrie tried hers a moment later, however, pondering the taste for a moment before taking a second sip.  


“She likes it,” Aloy commented, laughing.  


“It’s not bad,” Ikrie said, shrugging. “I feel awake all of the sudden, though.”  


“That’s the other side of it,” the older redhead said, smirking. “There’s a particular ingredient that exists in the plant when you boil it that generates energy when you drink it.”  


“Is this another ‘re-introduction’?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.  


“Yes, and… I had only heard about it prior to working with DEMETER, but after actually trying it myself… well, let’s say I’m glad we re-discovered it.”  


Within a few minutes, the three women had finished their food and drinks, although Aloy had eventually taken Anukai’s untouched drink with her as they exited the dining hall. Several twists and turns later, they found themselves entering the study from yesterday, Aloy closing the door behind them.  


“So, now that we’re all fed and awake,” the older redhead sighed, moving across the room before taking a seat on the edge of the large, wooden piece of furniture on the far side, “let’s get down to it, shall we?”  


Anukai nodded, folding her arms over her chest as she idly began to pace about the far side of the room.  


“You’re probably wondering who Talanah thought you were last night, right?”  


The redhead stopped in her tracks, nodding.  


“Well… it’s a long story, but… when I was around your age, I started to experience these strange… visions,” Aloy began. “At first I thought they were just strange dreams, or… something…”  


Immediately, the hair on the back of Anukai’s neck began to stand on end as she tried to control her outward reaction.  


“But, I soon found that it seemed as if I was momentarily living someone else’s life… someone who looked a lot like me,” Aloy continued. “While I was experiencing that other life, though… she was experiencing mine. We began to try to work together, to help each other, although admittedly I had much less to offer in her life than she did in mine. Relatively soon into this experience, I figured out who this other person who I was ‘swapping’ lives with was: Elisabet Sobeck.”  


Anukai’s eyes widened as she came to a stop, once again, whirling to face Aloy.  


“I know it sounds… crazy,” the older redhead said, “and I thought so, too, but… let’s just say I had reasons to believe it, in the end. So I saw her life at the end of it… at the end of something she started and led called the Zero Dawn project.”  


“Sounds… intimidating,” Ikrie commented.  


“It was,” Aloy nodded. “She was designing a way to bring the world back from the dead.”  


“After the Old Ones?”  


Aloy nodded, again, taking a sip of the coffee in her mug.  


“The Old Ones accidentally unleashed a deadly plague on the world… known as the Faro Plague, or the Swarm.”  


Immediately, images of her own flesh being eaten away from her dream the night before passed through Anukai’s mind and she shivered, but remained silent.  


“Essentially, they designed machines, not all that much unlike the ones you know today, but with the sole purpose of killing,” Aloy sighed. “They were war machines, essentially. Well, one day they stopped listening to their masters, and decided that they were going to take their purpose to a new extreme. They were singlehandedly responsible for the rapid and total destruction of every living thing on the face of the planet.”  


Anukai and Ikrie both glanced to each other with pale expressions before turning back to Aloy.  


“So how did she stop them?”  


“She didn’t.”  


Confusion now creased their faces as Aloy sighed.  


“Elisabet knew there was no way to stop a force like that, so instead, she made a new plan: resurrect the world and all of its creatures once all of the machines were well and truly decommissioned.”  


Both girls stared at her blankly as Aloy took another sip from her coffee.  


“When they were dead.”  


The huntresses nodded as Aloy sighed and continued.  


“So, she knew that if the world was going to come back, someone needed to do it, but there was no feasible way to keep any humans around long enough to do it. So, instead, she created GAIA.”  


At that moment, the flash of light appeared in the center of the room, once again. It quickly settled into the image of the dark-skinned woman in the flowing dress, once again, who stood with her hands folded before and looking toward Aloy with a small smile on her face.  


“GAIA, as an artificial intelligence, could easily be built to last for centuries… millennia, even, if the future humans were able to help maintain her.”  


“So this… Zero Dawn,” Anukai began, “was to build this… light-woman… and then what?”  


“Well… that was mostly it,” Aloy shrugged. “GAIA has some helpers, known as subordinate functions, such as APOLLO and DEMETER.”  


“So those names you mentioned earlier,” Ikrie chimed in, “they’re… like her?”  


GAIA nodded, turning to the dark-haired huntress.  


“Correct,” she said. “While they are a part of my system, they functioned like a team, with myself as the leader.”  


“Okay… so… you said you experienced Elisabet’s life at the end,” Anukai said, turning back to Aloy and swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. “What happened to her, then?”  


The older redhead sighed, staring down at the mug in her hands for a few moments before looking back up at the younger redhead.  


“She died, just like everyone else.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face for a moment before she quickly tried to hide it.  


“But, that bond we had… it didn’t end there.”  


The younger women looked no less confused as Aloy continued.  


“We no longer traded lives, however… we continued to experience mine… as one.”  


Anukai and Ikrie gave each other wary looks as Aloy stood from her seat.  


“Now, hear me out,” she said, placing the mug on the wooden fixture’s surface behind her, “everything about the whole situation is strange, but… just hear me out.”  


Both girls shifted uncomfortably, but continued to listen.  


“It felt like two people—two minds—in one body, and… yeah, it was really strange, but—at times useful. Now, are you two aware of the battle that occurred in Meridian approximately twenty-five years ago?”  


They both nodded.  


“What do you know?”  


“Just that it was massive,” Anukai shrugged. “Warriors from many tribes showed up and there was a lot of destruction, but ultimately Meridian still stood.”  


“And the world.”  


Confusion creased the younger redhead’s face as Aloy continued.  


“The battle for Meridian was a battle to ensure that the plague, the one that destroyed the Old ones, did not return. We ultimately succeeded, as you can see, but… let’s say that bond between Elisabet and I changed that day.”  


Something dark crossed Aloy’s features before she cleared her throat and continued.  


“After the battle, we had time to focus on finally repairing GAIA, as she was in quite a bad state at that time. So a few of us, Talanah and myself along with our friends Petra and Erend, returned to a mountain in Nora territory to try to continue repairs of GAIA.”  


Anukai felt her heart rate skyrocket as she tried not to obviously show an outward reaction, but ultimately settled on leaning against a nearby shelf to try to hide her nervous motions.  


“O-oh?”  


Aloy glanced to her curiously for a moment before clearing her throat and continuing.  


“Inside the mountain is an ancient bunker… a massive facility. It was used to create life, like I mentioned yesterday, and… well, it was where I was born.”  


Anukai nodded slowly, still trying to act nonchalant, while her mind had gone blank in regards to what exactly that meant.  


“Anyway, we used what remained of the facility to try to reconstruct GAIA and begin the process of re-introducing those subordinate functions, as well,” Aloy continued. “During that time, however… something happened.”  


Aloy glanced toward the image of GAIA, whose expression changed to a much more somber one as she glanced down at the ground.  


“There was an attempt to—split—Elisabet and myself.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face, yet again, as Aloy hurried to continue.  


“GAIA used some experimental procedures to essentially create a version of Elisabet inside the facility’s systems… essentially transferring her personality into an artificial intelligence, like herself.”  


“It was not entirely successful,” GAIA suddenly chimed in, looking back up at Anukai. “The version of Elisabet that was created was… not the one I remembered.”  


Anukai swallowed nervously as she shifted her position against the shelf.  


“How so?”  


“She was bent on completing her goal to ‘fix’ the world, at any cost,” Aloy sighed.  


Anukai’s position against the shelf slipped slightly and she staggered forward a step or two before she caught herself, prompting everyone else in the room to look toward her.  


“Sorry… slipped…” she muttered, folding her arms more tightly across her chest to try to hide the shaking in her hands.  


“So, anyway…” Aloy continued, eying the younger redhead with an unreadable expression for a moment or two longer, “we ultimately had to seal her inside the facility to prevent her from… well, to be honest, I’m not sure what her plans were, but… based on what had transpired before, I could only assume they weren’t good.”  


“What do you mean by that?” Anukai jumped in, wincing as she realized how quickly she had spoken.  


“Well… she tried to kill me, for one,” Aloy sighed, “but… she told me something about… rebuilding until she got it right.”  


The color drained from Anukai’s face as she quickly cleared her throat, leaning her head forward in an attempt to use her hair to hide her reaction. A heavy sigh drew her attention, once again, and she glanced up to find Aloy sitting on the edge of the wooden fixture, yet again.  


“So, now you know how I ended up here,” she said, “now the question is: how did you?”  


“Well… I walked,” the younger redhead said, shrugging.  


The other three laughed, Ikrie shaking her head as she stopped her pacing.  


“I meant more in regards to how you appear to be another clone of Elisabet, like me,” Aloy replied. “GAIA created me as a means of counteracting the subordinate function that was trying to resurrect the Faro Plague, but… well, GAIA?”  


The light-woman sighed, shaking her head.  


“I do not have a record of sending another request to an ELEUTHIA facility,” she said. “I am as confused as you are, Aloy.”  


“So… GAIA… created you?” Anukai said, pointing to Aloy.  


“In a way, yes,” she nodded. “The ELEUTHIA facilities that she mentioned do not decide on their own to just create a new person. GAIA, is there any way for you to tell if a signal came from the one in All Mother Mountain?”  


The light-woman shook her head.  


“There is not, unfortunately, but from what network we have been able to re-establish, I do not detect any signals issued to the other facilities… unless…”  


The other women all looked to her expectantly as the image of GAIA’s faced contorted in thought.  


“When GAIA Prime was partially rebooted…”  


Just then, the image of GAIA froze, her eyes widening as a look somewhere between surprise and fear crossed her face.  


“What is it?” Aloy immediately demanded, jumping up from her seat.  


“I’ve detected a proximity sensor has been tripped,” the light-woman said, whirling toward Aloy. “Someone is at the Prime site.”  


A moment later, the glowing image of GAIA disappeared, leaving the room in a sudden and total silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh.
> 
> Don't touch that dial, now, we're just getting started.


	7. We've Got a Lot to Talk About

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday.
> 
> So, in my mind, this chapter has the inciting incident for the whole series' story arc.
> 
> If you thought you knew exactly where the conflict in this was going... you're probably wrong.
> 
> Enjoy.

After several long moments, the three women remaining in the room all seemed to snap out of their daze at once, Anukai nervously swallowing as she stepped away from the shelf.  


“What just happened?”  


“I don’t know,” Aloy said, frowning. “We weren’t planning any trips to the Prime site soon, so whatever it is can’t be good…”  


Anukai glanced toward Ikrie, who also bore the telltale signs of her nervousness, although she seemed to be doing a much better job of hiding them compared to how the redhead felt.  


“Where is this Prime site?” Anukai asked.  


“It’s in the mountains,” Aloy continued, beginning to pace before the wooden fixture behind her, “at the top of the Bitter Climb.”  


“Where… where is that?”  


“More or less north of Daytower, if you know where that is.”  


Anukai’s heart sank into her stomach as she glanced toward Ikrie, who had also now gone pale. Words of warning from another familiar redhead began to echo in Anukai’s ears, increasing in volume along with her heartbeat.  


“ _If she catches wind of your true purpose, you will never find the information, and you may very well never leave Meridian, again._ ”  


Suddenly, the flash of light appeared in the center of the room, once again, but this time it didn’t settle on the familiar form of GAIA quite so quickly. Several seconds passed before the pieces of her image seemed to vaguely form her shape, but parts of her seemed to be slightly moved out of place, and there even some lines of glyphs that seemed to scroll across her at certain places.  


“Goddess… GAIA, what happened?!” Aloy demanded, stepping forward and raising one hand tentatively toward the image.  


The image seemed to be trying to speak, but her voice sounded garbled and oddly distorted, sending shivers down Anukai’s spine as she watched the image continue to try to coalesce into a single, cohesive shape.  


“Hold on, GAIA,” Aloy said, frowning as she began to move around behind the wooden fixture she had taken a seat on earlier.  


Suddenly, the image seemed to come together just long enough for her voice to be audible, although it still oddly sounded almost as if she were in a much larger room, much farther away.  


“There was… another… signal.”  


Aloy instantly froze, her head whipping up toward GAIA as she leaned against the fixture.  


“What?” she breathed. “GAIA… a-another… like?”  


The image seemed unable to respond as she continued to shake and shift, although Anukai noted that she also wore a pained expression, as if whatever strange distortion had occurred was physically hurting her.  


“Okay, hold on,” Aloy sighed. “I’m going to fix you up, just hold on.”  


Aloy suddenly pulled a drawer from the back of the wooden fixture and dug through it for several frantic moments before drawing a smaller, wooden box from within. Anukai stepped closer as she tried to see in the box, but the older redhead quickly revealed it as she shoved the top back: a pile of small, black boxes.  


The younger redhead’s heartbeat began to pound even louder as she glanced to Ikrie, nodding toward the box. The other girl looked to her curiously, so Anukai quickly slipped over to her, leaning in to whisper directly beside her ear.  


“In that box… the small, black boxes Elisabet mentioned…”  


Ikrie straightened up, glancing toward Aloy, who had begun to tap and swipe at the air before her, before turning back to the red-haired huntress.  


“Anukai, didn’t you just hear everything she said…?”  


“I know, but… we don’t know which one to trust, right?”  


“She has an actual woman made of light at her beck and call, and has already given us more answers than Elisabet did,” Ikrie hissed.  


“Elisabet didn’t try to hide things from us.”  


“Did she?”  


As Ikrie and Anukai stared each other down, Aloy suddenly let out a triumphant cry.  


“Okay, GAIA, how’s everything feel?”  


The huntresses turned back to the light-woman and the older redhead to find the image of GAIA had returned to normal, although she appeared to be breathing heavily, one hand held to her chest.  


“Much better, thank you, Aloy,” the light-woman said.  


“By the Goddess, you were in bad shape,” the older redhead sighed, tapping her Focus before moving around the wooden fixture before her. “What happened? Did someone do something to the Prime site? You mentioned a signal?”  


GAIA nodded, straightening up and taking a deep breath.  


“There was someone at the Prime site, but I do not think they caused the signal,” she began. “Aloy… it was Elisabet.”  


The older redhead’s face drained of all color as she staggered back a step or two, her eyes widening.  


“B-but… how? No… it couldn’t have been her!”  


GAIA nodded, her expression incredibly somber.  


“It was,” she said. “She tried to access my system.”  


“But you shut her down, right?” Aloy said instantly, taking a step closer.  


“She was not able to break through the firewall, no,” GAIA replied, shaking her head, “but we… spoke.”  


“Spoke?”  


GAIA nodded.  


“She has not changed, Aloy,” she began, “and I was able to learn her purpose.”  


“And how she got out of that fucking mountain?”  


The image of GAIA slowly turned toward Anukai, who instantly felt her blood run cold as her heart seemed to come to a complete stop.  


“She was released by Anukai, and sent her here to steal the drives for myself and the subordinate functions.”  


The younger redhead instantly grew rigid as her gaze shifted from the light-woman to the older redhead who had now turned to her, an expression of pure bewilderment on her features.  


“She…? You…? You’ve been to the mountain…?”  


Suddenly, Aloy’s face contorted in rage as she stalked toward Anukai, who quickly pushed Ikrie aside. A moment later, Aloy placed her hands in the center of Anukai’s chest, shoving her and sending her reeling backward.  


“You fucking liar!” she growled. “What else do you already know? Huh? What do you know about me? About GAIA? About all of this shit?!”  


Anukai blinked at the sweat she hadn’t noticed beginning to run into her eyes, but ultimately was able to focus her gaze on Aloy, once again.  


“I-I… she only told me that the three of us were related, somehow,” Anukai managed.  


“Oh? Why does she want those drives?”  


“I don’t know!”  


Aloy grabbed Anukai by the front of her tunic and shoved her backward until she slammed into the door behind her, a grunt escaping her as she tried to push the older redhead’s arms aside, but her grip was far too strong.  


“What kind of bullshit did she put into your head?”  


“I don’t know either of you!” Anukai snapped. “How am I supposed to know who to trust, huh?”  


“Let me give you a hint,” Aloy growled, leaning in close to her, “not the one who thinks that destroying everyone and everything to rebuild the world, again, is a good idea.”  


“She didn’t—”  


Before Anukai could finish her sentence, Aloy suddenly lifted her forward before slamming her back against the door, yet again, causing her head to snap back and slam into the hard, wooden surface with a resounding bang that prompted an explosion of bright lights that nearly consumed her vision.  


“Aloy, stop!”  


The booming voice seemed to echo about Anukai’s head as she tried to focus on the splash of copper before her that she knew to be Aloy, but what little she could make out seemed to be streaking and moving much more slowly than it should. A moment later, the grip on her tunic disappeared and Anukai felt herself stagger forward, only for another grip to appear about her shoulders, gently pulling her backward until she felt the hard surface behind her, once again.  


As she braced herself against it, she saw something dark and hazy appear before her, and she quickly tried to push herself away, memories of her nightmare flooding her mind, but a moment later the darkness cleared and revealed a face. As she took in the dark eyes and the smattering of freckles, she quickly found herself relaxing, the terror that had gripped her moments ago evaporating.  


“I-Ikrie…”  


“Shh… it’s okay,” the other huntress’s voice said, although it still sounded distant.  


Anukai felt something warm on the side of her face and she turned her head into it, breathing heavily.  


“That’s it, breathe… focus…”  


After a few long moments, her vision began to clear and the world seemed to return to its normal speed, revealing Ikrie glancing back over her shoulder. As Anukai let out a groan, she turned back to her, placing her other hand on the side of the redhead’s face.  


“Hey, you with me?”  


Anukai nodded, blinking slowly.  


“Okay, just… take as long as you need,” Ikrie sighed, gently running one thumb across the redhead’s cheek, just below her eye, before releasing her and taking moving more to her side.  


The redhead turned her attention away from her, finding Aloy and the image of GAIA seemingly conversing in the center of the room. A moment later, the light-woman glanced in their direction, followed soon after by the older redhead. Her lips were drawn into a thin line, but she didn’t make a move to step closer to Anukai; instead, GAIA was the one who began to approach.  


“Child, I apologize for Aloy’s outburst,” she began, coming to a stop a few feet from the young redhead. “Are you okay?”  


“I’ll survive,” she muttered.  


“I did not intend for the situation to escalate as it did.”  


“Well, too late.”  


An expression of sadness passed over GAIA’s face as her image wrung her hands before her.  


“I understand what the Elisabet you spoke to sent you here to do, however I do not feel that you had cruel intent in your interactions or reasons for coming here.”  


“I…” Anukai began, but paused as pain throbbed through her skull, once again, “I don’t know anything about… who’s right and… who did what…”  


“I know, child,” GAIA sighed. “Just so I may process everything that has happened… she did not tell you a reason for retrieving these drives?”  


Anukai shook her head slowly.  


“Only that Aloy had stolen them.”  


The sound of the older redhead letting out an angry huff came in the background and Anukai glanced past the image of GAIA to see her pacing tensely, her arms folded over her chest.  


“She did take them with her when she left the mountain in Nora lands,” GAIA nodded, “but stealing may be an exaggeration.”  


Anukai let out a short, dry laugh as she turned her attention back to GAIA.  


“Okay, but, are we past the screaming and slamming me around part of the day, now?”  


Aloy stopped her pacing, rubbing at her eyes tiredly with one hand, before turning to face the younger redhead.  


“Yes, I’m sorry, I… I told you of my history with the Elisabet that exists in the world, now,” she sighed. “I… I’m mad that she got to you and… that you believed her.”  


“I knew nothing prior to meeting her!” Anukai snapped. “How should I have known better?!”  


“I know, I know!” Aloy replied, whirling to face her and taking a few steps closer. “I… I’m deeply sorry, once again. I… I hate that this is how we’ve come to know each other in two days.”  


Anukai opened her mouth to argue again, but paused as the older redhead’s words sank into her.  


“You’re confused, and suddenly being thrown all of this information about how your life isn’t what you thought it was, and instead of helping trying to make it all make sense… I’ve attacked you twice, now, and… fuck!”  


Aloy swung her fist at empty air before running both hands forcefully over her face, letting out a sound halfway between a growl and a groan. As she began to pace, yet again, GAIA turned back to Anukai.  


“Elisabet did try to access my system at the Prime site,” she said, bringing the younger redhead’s attention back to her, “but she was not entirely successful. I have found the servitor bot she was using, however.”  


“Wait… servitor bot?” Anukai said, shaking her head. “She’s… she’s not…?”  


“As Aloy explained earlier, the Elisabet you spoke to was created through a process that rendered her something like an artificial intelligence, like me,” GAIA explained. “She was not a physical person, at that time. The physical entity you interacted with was this digital consciousness downloaded into a machine intended to replicate the physical appearance of a person.”  


The younger redhead simply blinked as she stared back at the image of GAIA.  


“While she had a physical body, and spoke as if she were a real person, the entity you were actually interacting with was a servitor bot, a machine. Elisabet was simply the… spirit… guiding it.”  


Anukai pressed her hands against her temples as she continued to shake her head slowly.  


“Okay, so… taking all that in,” she said, finally, “you said you found her?”  


“I found the bot, yes,” GAIA replied, nodding. “It is currently inactive. It appears that at the same time as the rogue signal that suddenly disrupted me appeared, it also affected her. Potentially, this was caused due to her attempting to interface with my system, at the time, however I am unsure.”  


“So… what does that mean?” Ikrie chimed in, surprising both GAIA and Anukai.  


“It means that I do not detect her in the Prime Site, anymore, however I do not know if she is, in a digital sense, ‘dead,’” GAIA continued. “I have been able to trace the source of this signal, though.”  


Aloy instantly stopped whatever pacing she had begun, whirling toward GAIA and quickly approaching, even as Anukai eyed her warily.  


“You traced it this time, GAIA?”  


The light-woman nodded, glancing back at her.  


“Due to your quick work, it was not able to render me in a completely inactive state.”  


“Was it… do you think it was the same as…?”  


GAIA frowned, shaking her head.  


“I do not know for certain,” she replied, “but I have a—feeling—that it was.”  


Anukai glanced between the light-woman and the redhead as confusion creased her face.  


“What are you two talking about?”  


“When Aloy was born,” GAIA began, turning back to her, “this was a direct result of an attack on my system by a signal of unknown origin, much like the one minutes ago. This led to the separation of the subordinate functions, which ultimately led to the destruction of the original Prime site and the rise of the subordinate function known as HADES that almost revived the Faro Plague.”  


Anukai nodded slowly, her eyes widening.  


“But there wasn’t similar damage done this time, right?” Aloy pressed.  


“No,” GAIA confirmed, shaking her head, “not that I can see, other than to Elisabet and her bot.”  


“Do you think it was a direct attack on her… _through_ you?” the older redhead asked.  


GAIA frowned.  


“I do not know.”  


Aloy let out a heavy sigh as she began to pace behind the light-woman, once again.  


“You said you tracked the signal. Where’d it come from?”  


“The west.”  


“Where in the west?”  


“Rather far from here,” GAIA replied. “From my calculations… it appeared to come from what was known to the Old Ones as Mount Rainier.”  


Confusion creased all three women’s faces as they turned to look at GAIA.  


“Where is that?”  


“Far into what you now know as the Forbidden West,” the light-woman continued. “It is on the western coast of the land mass on which we now stand.”  


Silence followed her description for several long moments, Anukai swallowing nervously as she glanced toward Ikrie for a moment, only to find her bearing an expression of unease.  


“I am concerned that it has returned, at this time,” GAIA said, glancing back at Aloy. “With how much has been reconstructed, I fear that perhaps it has attracted the attention of whoever has sent the signal.”  


“You’re sure it’s a matter of ‘who’?” Aloy replied.  


“I would believe so, yes, however… I may be wrong,” the light-woman sighed. “There is no way to know from here.”  


A long, pregnant pause fell over them before the older redhead cleared her throat softly.  


“You’re suggesting—”  


“To go after it, yes,” GAIA finished, nodding.  


Another long silence fell over the room for several long moments before Aloy broke it with a heavy sigh, drawing the others’ attentions. As Anukai turned to her, she found the older redhead staring directly back at her, lips drawn into a thin line.  


“You want to actually fix the world, kid?” she said, prompting the younger redhead’s eyebrows to raise. “This is your chance.”  


“And what makes you think I’d go anywhere with you?” Anukai shot back, her jaw clenching.  


Just as Aloy opened her mouth to retort, an unlikely voice interrupted her, prompting both redheads to turn toward it.  


“Because ultimately you’d be doing the right thing.”  


Anukai stared at Ikrie with surprise as the dark-haired huntress stared back at her with an unreadable expression.  


“You came here when Elisabet gave you a mission—why?” she asked softly.  


The younger redhead recoiled at her words, attempting to come up with a response, however nothing came to her after several long seconds.  


“Because she gave you a purpose, one that felt important,” Ikrie answered. “If what GAIA has said is true… this is.”  


Several long, silent seconds passed before Anukai swallowed nervously, nodding ever so slightly while maintaining her eye contact with the other huntress.  


“Okay.”  


Ikrie’s lips pulled back in a small smile as the younger redhead turned back to Aloy, still moving somewhat as if in a daze.  


“Ikrie comes, too,” she said as soon as she made eye contact with the older redhead.  


Aloy nodded, but said nothing, instead turning her attention to GAIA.  


“I cannot come with you,” the light-woman sighed. “Not physically, anyway.”  


“Why not? Did something happen?”  


“No, the bot is fine,” GAIA replied, grinning, “but I feel I may be of more assistance in my full capacity, here. Besides, there is still much work to be done, especially in your absence.”  


“But… you’ll still be able to come with, just through the Focus, right?” Aloy asked, her tone insistent.  


“Yes, but you will not be alone, Aloy,” the light-woman said. “Talanah will be going, no?”  


The older redhead shifted awkwardly under GAIA’s gaze, her eyes momentarily flicking toward Anukai.  


“Well… yeah…”  


“Aloy…”  


“Of course she is!” she sighed. “She’s my—I couldn’t leave her behind.”  


Anukai raised her eyebrows slightly as the image of GAIA nodded slowly.  


“I just… I’m worried about you,” Aloy continued. “That signal attacked once, but I was here to help fix you up. What if that happens again while I’m not…?”  


The light-woman smiled gently as she stepped to Aloy, raising one hand and laying it beside her cheek. Anukai watched GAIA’s and Aloy’s motions, feeling a strange pang in her chest that she couldn’t quite place.  


“There are others who have learned to code, thanks to you and Talanah,” GAIA said softly.  


“Yeah, but—”  


“I will be fine,” she interrupted, the image of her thumb running across Aloy’s cheek. “Now that I know there may be another attack, I can prepare for it. I will not be caught unaware next time.”  


The redhead looked like she wanted to argue further, but just then a loud knocking came from the door behind Anukai, prompting the younger redhead to jump in surprise, hopping a step or two forward and whirling around to face the wooden portal. As she did, she found it slowly opening, prompting her to instantly grow tense.  


A moment later, however, a head appeared through the opening and she relaxed, somewhat, as she recognized the dark-haired Carja huntress from the night before.  


“Everything okay in here?” Talanah asked, glancing around at the four figures in the room.  


“Yes,” Aloy sighed, glancing to GAIA with an admonishing look while the light-woman simply grinned sheepishly in response. “I’m assuming GAIA summoned you?”  


“Well… yeah.”  


Talanah stepped farther into the room, closing the door behind her before glancing toward the younger huntresses before her.  


“Morning,” she said, nodding in greeting while a smirk tugged at her lips.  


Anukai and Ikrie made similar gestures, but remained silent. Something like confusion passed over Talanah’s face before she turned and approached Aloy.  


“How bad did she make it sound?” the older redhead sighed, bracing her hands on her hips.  


“Well, I ran out of a meeting with Avad, so if that gives you any indication…”  


Aloy’s head hung forward as one hand lifted to rub at her eyes tiredly.  


“Hey, what’s wrong?” Talanah insisted, placing her hands on the redhead’s upper arms and attempting to lean forward into her field of view.  


“Nothing, just… can we… can we talk in a little bit?” Aloy mumbled.  


Talanah paused for a moment, her motions hesitant, before Anukai cleared her throat, prompting both older women to jump in surprise.  


“I think we’re going to take a walk,” she said, nodding toward Ikrie, “for a little bit.”  


Aloy looked like she wanted to argue, but with a stern glance from Talanah, gave in and nodded.  


“Sure, sure, just… we can meet back here when you’re ready.”  


Anukai glanced to Ikrie before gesturing to the door. Without another word, they quickly made their exit into the hallway along the courtyard outside, Anukai gently pulling the door closed behind them. Ikrie led the way into the center of the open courtyard, her attention quickly taken by the colorful plants and flowers in the miniature, stone gardens placed about the open space. The redhead hung back for a moment, watching the other girl approach a nearby plant with a deep purple flower already well in bloom, her fingers gingerly running over one of its petals.  


With a small smile, Anukai moved to catch up, coming to a stop beside the dark-haired girl.  


“You okay?” Ikrie asked, turning her attention from the flower to the redhead as she approached.  


“Yeah, why?”  


“After all… _that_ ,” she said, nodding in the direction they had come.  


Anukai shrugged.  


“Seems to be the new normal the past few days.”  


Ikrie frowned, folding her arms over her chest.  


“That doesn’t make it a good thing.”  


“But it’s what we’ve got, so…”  


The dark-haired girl sighed heavily, shaking her head as she began to pace past Anukai, her path slow and aimless. Suddenly, as she was inches from her right side, she came to a stop, spinning on her heel to face the redhead.  


“I’m sorry if it felt like I was forcing you into going.”  


Anukai blinked in surprise, confusion quickly creasing her face.  


“What do you mean?”  


“When Aloy asked you to go into the west,” she continued. “You seemed like you didn’t want to, but I argued against you.”  


Anukai sighed, shaking her head as she folded her arms over her chest, as well.  


“You know me… I would have done it, eventually.”  


“Really?”  


“Yes, really. Why do you say that?”  


“Because you’re incredibly stubborn.”  


Anukai shot her a dirty look as Ikrie laughed, bumping the redhead’s shoulder with her own.  


“Come on… you can’t deny you are, at least a little bit.”  


“Watch me.”  


Ikrie raised one eyebrow toward her as Anukai smirked. With a sigh, the dark-haired girl continued her wandering path across the courtyard until she came to a bench, which she fell onto with a soft grunt. The redhead also began making a lazy path across the open ground, making a point to examine some of the plants and flowers as Ikrie had, before. As she was staring down at a plant with dark, reddish-green leaves and a strangely bright red coloring that traced lines from its stem to the outer edges of each leaf, she became aware of a presence very close to her.  


When Anukai glanced up, expecting to find Ikrie hovering nearby, she physically started at the sight of a red-haired woman, instead. At first, she thought Aloy had approached when she wasn’t paying attention, but she quickly realized that her clothing was far different than any she had seen before, except for maybe…  


“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”  


Anukai’s eyes widened as the woman spoke, her gaze turning to fix on the younger redhead. Immediately, she forced herself to blink several times, but she didn’t disappear. Instead, between two of the blinks, she swore that she saw the woman’s right eye turn to a bloody mess before it returned to normal after the next one.  


“Croton plants,” the woman continued, nodding toward the leaves Anukai had been staring at a moment ago. “Need just the right amount of sunlight or they turn all green.”  


The younger redhead glanced over toward Ikrie, but the other huntress didn’t seem to be paying attention, and was instead staring up at the walls of the courtyard around them.  


“I know you’re not _my_ kiddo,” the woman continued, prompting Anukai to slowly turn back to her, “but you’ve got a lot of her in you.”  


“Who are you?” Anukai hissed, taking care to make sure her voice didn’t carry to the huntress behind her.  


The older redhead smiled, reaching toward Anukai, who recoiled, slipping out of her arm’s reach.  


“You’ll see what I mean, one day.”  


Just then, something touched the back of Anukai’s shoulder and she jumped, whirling around with a surprised yelp. When her gaze settled, she found Ikrie leaning away from her, eyes slightly widened.  


“You okay?”  


Anukai quickly glanced back toward where the other redhead had stood a moment ago, but found the space empty. Swallowing the heavy lump in her throat, she turned back to Ikrie.  


“Yeah, just… wasn’t paying attention.”  


The dark-haired girl eyed her warily.  


“You… seemed pretty alert.”  


“Well, I… uh… I…”  


Ikrie’s look of concern only deepened as Anukai sighed.  


“Can we… can we talk about it later?”  


After a few moments of silence, Ikrie finally nodded, prompting another relieved sigh from the redhead.  


“It isn’t something about Elisabet, is it?”  


“Later,” Anukai hissed, before instantly squeezing her eyes shut tightly as her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “Sorry.”  


When she reopened her eyes, she found Ikrie regarding her with an unreadable expression. A similar, strange pang as when she had seen Aloy and GAIA interacting earlier shot through her chest, prompting her to inhale sharply.  


“I promise,” she said quietly, making a particular effort not to break her eye contact with Ikrie.  


The dark-haired girl remained still and silent for a few moments longer before nodding, her lips pulling back in a small, sad smile as she placed one hand on Anukai’s upper arm, squeezing it gently.  


“I’ll hold you to it.”  


The redhead grinned as Ikrie’s hand lingered on her arm for a moment longer, finally falling by her side, once again, as the sound of a door opening echoed across the courtyard. The huntresses turned to look toward Aloy’s study door, however it appeared to still be shut. With a frown of confusion, Anukai glanced around the rest of the open walkways on the same level as them, but all of the rooms seemed to be closed, as well.  


“You heard that, right?” she whispered.  


Ikrie nodded, remaining silent as she glanced around, as well.  


A moment later, the sound of footsteps began to echo across the courtyard and they both grew tense, each of them reaching cautiously toward their belts. Just then, motion from the left end of the walkway in front of the door they had left earlier caught the redhead’s attention and she glanced toward it, craning her neck slightly to see over one of the garden embankments. A figure was making their way along said walkway, however at Anukai’s motion, they paused, seemingly glancing in her direction.  


The redhead quickly realized that the figure had changed direction and was now heading toward them, prompting her to firmly wrap her hand around the hilt of her hunting knife, her fingers clenching around the well-worn bone handle. A moment later, the figure rounded the end of the stone garden bed ahead of them and came to a stop, confusion creasing their face.  


“Now either you’ve made a miracle self-care regime you need to tell me about, Little Huntress… or yours is a face I haven’t seen, exactly, in a long time.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she looked the woman before them up and down. She was clad from head to foot in a set of deep purple silk clothing, the top and bottom portions seemingly separated by an open midriff, although a single, broad sash of gold silk ran across her torso, providing the impression that they were not, in fact, disconnected. The woman’s face sported somewhat angular features, although some of the sharpness was broken up by what seemed to be a large scar that ran from nearly halfway down the left side of her jaw to her ear, which also showed signs of scarring from what was visible underneath another intricate Carja headpiece made of black and gold painted pieces of metal; despite the headpiece, it was clear that her hair was cut rather short and close to her head, however.  


“I don’t think yours is one I’ve ever seen,” Anukai replied, keeping her hand held to her weapon.  


The woman laughed, a disconcerting low rumble that made the hair on the back of the redhead’s neck stand on end.  


“You’ve got the same spark, too,” she said. “Should I be concerned that you both have your hands on your knives?”  


“We don’t know you,” Ikrie shot back. “Gotta be careful.”  


“I understand,” the woman replied, nodding. “That Banuk intuition suits you well. This is Meridian, however, not the frozen wilds.”  


“Not much of a difference, when it comes down to it,” Anukai shrugged.  


The dark-skinned woman across from them regarded the redhead with an amused expression, her eyes seemingly half-closed.  


“Well, then allow me to state that I mean you no harm… as of now,” she replied. “I’m looking for someone who looks a lot like you, though.”  


“Aloy?”  


Anukai instantly cringed at how easily she had blurted out the name, but kept her grip on her knife secure.  


“Yes. You know her?”  


“We’ve met.”  


“Very interesting…”  


Several long moments of tense silence fell over them, once again, before the strange woman before them sighed, shifting her position as she braced one hand on her hip.  


“You wouldn’t happen to be able to tell me where you’d seen her, would you?”  


Anukai stared back at her for another moment or two before nodding toward the side of the courtyard behind her.  


“Her room, over there.”  


The redhead felt Ikrie tense beside her, but the dark-haired girl remained silent.  


“Thank you…” the woman replied, her tone lifting in a question at the end as she let the sentence hang.  


Anukai remained silent, her jaw clenched, though. With a sigh, the woman shook her head.  


“I get it,” she said. “Well, thank you, Little Flame-Hair.”  


Anukai scowled slightly at the name, but the woman had already turned to begin walking toward the door to Aloy’s study. The two girls watched her go, hands still at the ready on their knives, until the woman had knocked on the door. A few moments later, it opened and they could hear the sound of her voice and another’s, before she ultimately stepped inside, the door closing behind her, once again.  


“Seems like they know her,” Ikrie commented.  


“Seems like it.”  


The huntresses finally relaxed as they took their hands from their weapons, Anukai letting out a heavy sigh.  


“Little Flame-Hair…” she grumbled.  


“I was going to say I kind of liked it…”  


Anukai shot her a hard look as Ikrie smirked.  


“I’ll keep it in mind,” the dark-haired girl said.  


The redhead sighed, turning to lean against the small garden beside her.  


“Well, do we give them another few minutes or do we just barge in there and see who that woman is, really?” she said, glancing over at Ikrie.  


The other girl shrugged, leaning her side against the stone wall of the garden, as well.  


“Maybe, or you can tell me about what was bothering you so much earlier.”  


The redhead shot her an admonishing look.  


“I said later, but I was thinking… more later than now.”  


Ikrie sighed, shrugging as a smirk pulled at her lips.  


“Well, I tried.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes before pushing away from the stone wall behind her.  


“Well, I guess then we should go see what they’re up to in there.”  


She caught Ikrie’s smirk dampening for a moment out of the corner of her eye, but chose to ignore it and started toward the door. Once she had gone a few feet and hadn’t heard the sound of footsteps behind her, she paused, glancing back to find Ikrie still standing by the garden, but watching her with an unreadable expression on her face.  


“Are you coming?”  


The dark-haired girl appeared to sigh heavily before nodding and beginning after her, jogging to catch up. When she reached Anukai, she came to a stop, glancing over at the redhead.  


“Ready when you are,” she said, raising her eyebrows slightly.  


The redhead’s lips pulled into a thin line, but she ultimately turned to move toward the door, approaching it and knocking firmly. The sound of voices carried from inside, and for a few moments she thought they may not have heard her, but just as she was about to knock again, the door opened and she quickly pulled her hand back in surprise.  


The strange woman from earlier stood in the doorway, a smirk already affixed on her features.  


“Well, if it isn’t the Little Flame-Hair,” she said, almost in a faux-surprised tone.  


“Yeah, I… Aloy asked us to check back with her eventually, so…” Anukai replied, making a pointed effort to not look away from the woman’s intense gaze.  


“Did she, now?”  


“That’s enough, Vanasha!”  


The woman smirked, glancing back into the room before pulling the door wider and stepping out of the way.  


“Come in, then.”  


The young huntresses entered, both eying the woman warily. As Anukai finally turned back to the room at large, she found Aloy and Talanah both sitting on the edge of the wooden fixture on the opposite side, the Carja woman’s arm notably wrapped behind the older redhead, with her hand visibly holding onto her side, just above the hip. The image of GAIA stood off to one side, her expression seemingly fixed in the neutral, warm expression Anukai had seen her wear most of the time they had interacted, so far.  


“So, I see you’ve met Vanasha, already,” Aloy said, smirking as she glanced toward the younger huntresses.  


“We have,” Anukai said slowly, eying the other woman as she made her way toward one of the wooden shelf units on the far wall and leaned against it.  


“She works for the Sun King,” the older redhead continued. “She’s more or less his eyes and ears to what is going on throughout the Sundom, and sometimes beyond.”  


“What do you look and listen for, then?” Ikrie asked, turning toward Vanasha.  


The strange woman shrugged, the smirk still firmly set into her features.  


“All manner of things,” she said. “Mainly things that would threaten Meridian or the Carja people, as a whole, though.”  


“So does that include us?” Anukai shot back, meeting the woman’s gaze, yet again.  


“I’m not sure, yet, Little Flame-Hair,” she replied, tilting her head to the side slightly. “Give me time. I’ll decide.”  


“That’s enough,” Talanah interrupted, sighing. “Vanasha, she is not a threat to us. Anukai, she can be a little—intense—but it comes with the nature of her job. Just… you get used to it.”  


The younger redhead and the older, dark-skinned woman with the scar continued to stare each other down for a few moments before they both subtly nodded and turned their attentions back to the women at the head of the room. Aloy and Talanah exchanged glances before the redhead turned back to the gathered group.  


“Vanasha came to check in because of Talanah running out of their meeting, earlier, so Avad was worried,” she began, “but I was also telling her about the signal from the West.”  


“Oh?” Anukai said, the hair on the back of her neck raising.  


“Yes,” Aloy nodded, “because Avad will probably want to know if two important people from his council are going to be missing for an extended period of time.”  


“He won’t be particularly happy, no,” Vanasha chimed in, “but he will understand.”  


“Just… let’s word it in a way that doesn’t sound like Meridian is about to be attacked by another ancient army, okay?” Aloy sighed.  


“That would probably be wise.”  


“Who’s Avad?” Ikrie asked, folding her arms over her chest as Anukai felt her shift uncomfortably beside her.  


“Avad is the Sun King, Freckles.”  


Ikrie visibly tensed at the name Vanasha had called her, while Anukai tried to stifle a smirk.  


“I have a name,” Ikrie said flatly.  


“And you wouldn’t tell me it,” Vanasha shot back. “Will you, now?”  


Ikrie remained silent for several long moments, prompting the other woman to shrug.  


“Freckles, it is.”  


With a smirk, she turned back to Aloy.  


“She wears them better than you, I’d dare say.”  


“Calm down, Vanasha,” the older redhead sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “We should tell Avad as soon as possible.”  


“To quote that old picture you know I’m so fond of,” the dark-skinned woman said, “there’s no time like the present.”  


The older redhead turned to Talanah beside her before they both nodded. As they then turned their gazes to the younger huntresses, they both shifted uncomfortably.  


“You ready to meet the Sun King?”  


Anukai’s eyes widened as she swallowed nervously.  


“You… want us… to meet him?”  


“Well, you’re part of the explanation,” Aloy shrugged, “so it would probably be easier if you were there, in person.”  


The younger girls exchanged glances before Anukai ultimately nodded, turning back to her.  


“Sure.”  


“I will leave you to your meeting, then,” GAIA chimed in, drawing everyone’s attention to her.  


“Everything okay?” Aloy asked quickly, straightening her posture on the edge of her seat.  


“Yes, child,” GAIA said, turning to her with a soft smile. “I plan to recover the bot outside the Prime site and want to see if it can perhaps provide some further answers.”  


Aloy nodded, but didn’t look convinced. The light-woman stepped over to her, placing one hand on the redhead’s shoulder.  


“As always, I will be simply a call away.”  


The older redhead simply nodded, once again, giving the light-woman a small smile. With that, GAIA’s image flickered and disappeared, leaving the older women to collect themselves. As Aloy went to stand up, Talanah pulled her back down, whispering something in her ear. The redhead grinned and nodded, glancing over at her.  


“Yes, dear,” Anukai heard her mutter in response.  


Talanah grinned, as well, before they exchanged a brief kiss and she finally released her grip around the redhead. Anukai quickly glanced away, trying to ignore the strange feeling in her chest, but her gaze fell on Ikrie and it only seemed to grow worse. The dark-haired girl raised one eyebrow at her slightly as the redhead quickly tried to pass off her motion as casual, continuing her turn, only to find herself looking at the shelf that was behind them.  


“Are you… okay?” Ikrie asked softly.  


“Yeah, fine,” Anukai shot back quickly, turning to her. “Just… nervous about talking to some Carja king, you know?”  


The dark-haired girl didn’t look convinced, but she also didn’t press any further. A moment later, Aloy stopped before them, raising her eyebrows.  


“Coming?”  


They quickly nodded and followed after them, although Anukai noted how Vanasha strategically placed herself at the rear of the group, behind the younger huntresses. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, but she tried not to glance back more than once at the purple-clad woman behind them.  


Aloy and Talanah seemed to pay no mind, however, as they led the way. As before, they led the group through a twisting series of hallways and stairwells until Anukai had no hope of figuring out a way back to where they had started. Finally, though, they stepped from a curving stairwell onto a large, open balcony. As Anukai glanced around them, she recognized the tall, stone structure they had seemingly exited from and glanced to her left. The plush benches and tables she had seen the first time they had been led on a forced march through the palace stood in the center of the open area ahead, however this time they were filled with people.  


At the sight of their party approaching, one in particular rose from his seat at the far side and moved around the table before him to approach.  


“I was beginning to worry with how much of a rush Talanah was in,” he called, smiling.  


“You know her, though,” Aloy sighed, glancing at the dark-haired woman beside her, “any time my name is involved, it’s top priority.”  


The dark-haired woman shook her head, laughing softly as the redhead turned back to the man before them.  


“Sorry, your Radiance.”  


The man laughed as they came to a stop before him, Anukai eying him up and down. He was clearly a little older than Aloy and Talanah, his dark hair showing telltale streaks of grey, while his skin was notably wrinkled around his eyes and mouth. He didn’t have quite the imposing figure the younger redhead had imagined when they had mentioned the Sun King earlier, instead appearing only a few inches taller than herself and with a frame that seemed much more suited to someone like the Banuk runners who carried messages from settlement to settlement.  


Anukai found herself mainly impressed with how well in shape he appeared, despite a king’s duties not typically entailing much physical activity, to her knowledge.  


“You did return with her, though, so I assume there must be some development you wish to inform me of,” he continued, once he had calmed, once again.  


“That there is,” Aloy sighed, glancing back at the younger huntresses behind her.  


Avad’s gaze travelled with hers before falling on Anukai. Instantly, his eyes widened as he inhaled sharply.  


“By the Sun…”  


He glanced between the two redheads for several moments before visibly swallowing.  


“Aloy… what is… who is she?”  


“This, your Radiance, is Anukai,” Aloy said, gesturing for the younger redhead to approach.  


She tentatively obliged, moving slowly toward them before coming to a stop beside the older redhead.  


“She… by the Sun, Aloy, is she your—?”  


“No, she’s not,” the older redhead cut in sharply. “I… no, she isn’t. She _is_ like me, though.”  


“ _Like_ you, as in…?”  


Aloy nodded and Avad let out a soft sound in wonder as he turned back to Anukai. He glanced her up and down once before continuing to stare at her face for several long moments. Finally, when the silence became too much, Anukai cleared her throat.  


“I’ve gotten similar reactions since I came here,” she said. “I’m getting used to it by now.”  


Avad quickly shook his head, as if breaking himself out of a daze, clearing his throat.  


“My apologies,” he said, “I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. I am Avad, the fourteenth Sun King of the Carja.”  


His posture straightened before he offered a small bow, which Anukai quickly returned in a much more awkward fashion.  


“I’m Anukai… uh… of the Snow Ghosts, originally from the Sheers.”  


“The Snow Ghosts… is your tribe?” he asked curiously.  


“No, we’re Banuk,” she said quickly, gesturing to herself and Ikrie, “but our werak is the Snow Ghosts.”  


“I see…” he replied, nodding as he glanced between Anukai and Ikrie. “I apologize, I do not know extensively of Banuk customs. May I ask the name of your companion?”  


They both turned to Ikrie, who visibly shied away from their gazes at first, before swallowing and straightening her posture.  


“My name is Ikrie.”  


Avad nodded in response, also offering a small bow to her.  


“Welcome to Meridian, Anukai and Ikrie,” he said. “I see you have already become acquainted with two of our most important residents, Aloy Sobeck, our Minister of Technology and a member of my direct Security Council—”  


The older redhead rolled her eyes at the introduction, but couldn’t hide the redness that had begun to spread across her cheeks.  


“—and Talanah Khane Padish, our Minister of Education and another important member of the Security Council.”  


Talanah smirked, glancing at Anukai and Ikrie.  


“And a member of the Hunter’s Lodge,” she added.  


“Yes, and also an invaluable member of our Hunter’s Lodge,” Avad added, nodding.  


Anukai nodded slowly, glancing between the two of them.  


“Well, then…”  


“Anyway,” Aloy said, clearly attempting to redirect the conversation, “we came to speak with you, Avad, about something that has arisen.”  


Concern clouded the Sun King’s face as she turned to the older redhead.  


“I assume it has something to do with the appearance of these young Banuk, here.”  


“They’re involved, yes,” Aloy nodded, “but there’s… something else.”  


They locked eyes for a moment before Avad nodded and turned to the people gathered on the plush benches nearby.  


“The council will see a short recess,” he called. “We will reconvene at midday.”  


With that, the gathered, silk-clad crowd began to rise from their seats, muttering amongst themselves. Anukai caught more than a few lingering glances in her direction, but she tried to ignore them, instead focusing her attention on Aloy and Avad to find them beginning to move toward the staircase they had originally been led down on their first path to Aloy’s study. The younger redhead nudged Ikrie and nodded after them, both of them hurrying to catch up.  


They followed the small group into the stairs, but quickly turned into a doorway much sooner than they had previously. As they entered the room beyond, Anukai found herself turning in place, looking around at the shelves full of scrolls and leather-bound collections of parchment paper. Several of the walls were covered with large scrolls emblazoned with detailed maps, however they all appeared to be for different regions. As she glanced around them, she recognized one on the far side of the room and moved over to it. Her fingers hovered over the parchment’s surface as she traced the outline of a mountain range up to a rather square portion, an intricate, flowery set of glyphs scrawled beside it.  


“Thunder’s Drum…” she muttered.  


She glanced to her right at the feeling of a presence beside her to find Ikrie also staring up at the map.  


“It’s Banuk lands,” the dark-haired girl muttered, pointing to something farther up on it. “There’s Ban-Ur… and the Sheers.”  


Anukai nodded, glancing over the entirety of the map, once again.  


“All of these are different tribal territories.”  


They both glanced back at the sound of Avad’s voice to find him watching them with an amused expression.  


“Why have all of them?” Anukai asked.  


“Meridian and the Sundom are a large place,” he explained, moving around a large, circular wooden table in the center of the room, “with many friends and many enemies beyond our borders. So… it benefits us to be familiar with more than simply the sands of the desert to the north or the jungles of the Jewel to the south.”  


Anukai nodded slowly, glancing back up at the map, once again, before turning back to the center of the room and approaching the table the others had now gathered around. The younger redhead noted that Vanasha had joined them, still, standing in the space between Avad and Aloy.  


“So, Aloy,” he began, turning to the older redhead, “what has occurred that you wish to inform me of?”  


“As you have been informed, already,” she began, nodding toward Anukai, “the young Banuk, here, appeared in Meridian yesterday. From what GAIA and I have been able to deduce, she appears to have a—similar origin—as myself… however is quite obviously much younger.”  


“And she is not of GAIA’s doing?” Avad asked.  


A shiver ran down Anukai’s spine at the implication, but she quickly tried to pass it off by folding her arms over her chest.  


“No,” Aloy replied, shaking her head, “at least, GAIA does not have a recollection of purposefully utilizing one of the ELEUTHIA facilities, again.”  


“And yet… she is of one of them?”  


“Undoubtedly,” the older redhead nodded.  


Avad nodded slowly, staring vacantly at the table for several moments before frowning and looking back up at the older redhead.  


“You told me before that the circumstances of your birth were in response to a threat… the one you ultimately defeated at the battle for Meridian twenty five years ago, correct?”  


Aloy nodded.  


“Do you believe this is similar for Anukai, as well?”  


The younger redhead continued to shift uncomfortably at the discussion of her life and birth happening before her. Just then, she felt something press against her arm and she glanced over to find Ikrie standing close to her, arms folded, as well, however her right shoulder was subtly braced against the younger redhead’s. Anukai swallowed the lump in her throat, but turned back to the conversation as she tried to keep at least part of a focus on the warm presence beside her in an attempt to anchor the whirling thoughts in her head in place.  


A physical anchor while her mind threatened to draw her out of the current time and space.  


“…but there were originally much more.”  


“I see…” Avad nodded, an expression of curiosity creasing his features as he folded his arms over his chest. “So you wish to track down one of these facilities?”  


“Yes,” Aloy nodded. “I feel that if we were able to locate her birthplace, and discover how it had suddenly functioned all of this time later, there could be invaluable information held within.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she glanced between Aloy and Avad, but neither of them seemed to notice her. When her gaze fell on Talanah, the Carja woman glanced toward her and winked. Realization fell over the younger redhead as Aloy’s words from earlier echoed in her ears.  


“And so you two will both be going?” Avad finally said, gesturing to Aloy and Talanah.  


“Yes, along with Anukai and Ikrie,” the older redhead replied, nodding.  


“That’s quite a small party for venturing so far to the north and west,” he said, frowning. “Are you sure you do not wish to also have a more—armored—escort?”  


Aloy frowned, shaking her head.  


“I think the four of us are more than capable of handling ourselves,” she said, glancing to Vanasha between her and Avad for a moment.  


“I was referring to Bekan and members of the Vanguard, perhaps,” the Sun King replied, raising his eyebrows.  


Aloy sighed heavily, shaking her head.  


“While I understand Bekan feels a sense of duty to me,” she replied, “I only foresee more problems with a larger party.”  


Avad nodded slowly, glancing to Vanasha, who simply shrugged, a smirk fixed on her lips.  


“Well, then the four of you have my blessing,” he replied, turning to glance around at the gathered women. “May you walk in the Sun’s light on your journey, and may its rays guide you home, once again, to Meridian.”  


Aloy and Talanah offered small bows, prompting Anukai and Ikrie to quickly try to imitate them. The younger redhead caught the other women looking toward them with amused expressions, but they quickly returned to neutral as they all fell still, once again.  


“When do you plan to depart?”  


“Most likely at first light, tomorrow,” Aloy replied, glancing to the girls across from her. “Will that work for you two?”  


Ikrie nodded and Anukai shrugged in response, prompting Talanah to smirk as Aloy turned back to Avad.  


“So, it’s settled.”  


“I would suggest stopping by the Vanguard armory, regardless,” Avad replied, nodding. “You will want to be fully equipped.”  


Aloy frowned slightly, but Anukai noted how Talanah placed a hand in the small of her back, speaking softly in her ear.  


“I understand—”  


“It makes sense,” the older redhead cut in, prompting the younger huntresses to exchange curious glances. “We’ll stop by this afternoon, I think.”  


A long silence fell over them before Avad finally broke it, clearing his throat as he turned his attention to Anukai and Ikrie.  


“While it seems your stay here, for now, is short,” he began, “I do welcome you to the city, and encourage you to make the most of your time, here. Aloy and Talanah will undoubtedly make sure you are well sought after, however please let me know if there is anything I can be of assistance with, before you leave.”  


The girls nodded, but otherwise remained silent as the other four at the table began wrapping up their conversation. Anukai suddenly felt a tap on her arm that drew her attention away from them, however, to focus on Ikrie beside her.  


“She lied to him,” she whispered, barely louder than a breath, “and he bought it.”  


Anukai nodded, but remained silent. Although she couldn’t recall Aloy’s exact words, she had a feeling based on what had transpired after that there had been no mention of Elisabet or the signal GAIA had mentioned. Finally, Talanah and Aloy turned to the girls and gestured for them to follow, grinning. They quickly slipped around the large, wooden table to follow them out of the map-covered room and into the stairwell outside.  


“Did you eat breakfast?” Talanah asked, turning to Aloy as soon as the door had closed behind them.  


“Yes, we ate just after sunrise,” the redhead replied, nodding toward the girls behind them.  


“I didn’t get a chance to,” the Carja woman replied before glancing back toward the girls. “Either of you feeling hungry?”  


The Banuk girls looked back at her with curious expressions for several moments before she subtly nodded toward the top of the stairs.  


“Come on, I’ll show you one of my favorite spots.”  


The four women made their way back to the open balcony where they had met Avad, originally, both Aloy and Talanah glancing around as soon as they were free of the stairwell.  


“What’s—?” Anukai began to ask before Aloy silenced her.  


“Talk when we’re somewhere louder,” she whispered, leaning in close to the younger redhead.  


The hair on the back of Anukai’s neck stood on end as she nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. The older women began to lead the way across the open, stone dais toward the curved set of stairs that led to the bridge connecting the palace to the rest of the city. As they walked, Ikrie nudged the younger redhead’s elbow and leaned in close to her.  


“What’s going on?”  


“I don’t know,” she replied, eying the women ahead of them warily. “I thought we were all allies, here.”  


The rest of their walk passed with silence from the girls, while Aloy and Talanah appeared to talk about some person the dark-haired Carja woman, in particular, seemed to loathe. Once they passed the line of Carja guards at the end of the bridge, they quickly led the way across the flow of the crowd toward the street where Anukai and Ikrie had eaten after arriving in Meridian.  


The street was incredibly packed as the sun was just beginning to reach its midday height, so Anukai slipped closer to Aloy, tapping her shoulder.  


“It’s louder now,” she said at a volume that would just be audible to the older redhead. “What’s going on?”  


“Avad knew we were lying,” the older redhead replied at an equal volume.  


“How do you know?” Anukai shot back, stepping out of the way of a young man carrying a rather large, wooden crate down the center of the street.  


“He suggested the armed escort,” she replied, slipping into a single file behind Talanah as they slid past a long line to one of the carts, in particular.  


“What does that mean?” Anukai asked, once she was able to stand beside the older redhead, once again.  


“It means that he knows we’re not just going on a research trip into the north,” she sighed, “and he expects we’ll meet trouble.”  


“Why are you so adamant that he doesn’t know what we’re doing?”  


“Because he has enough to worry about,” Aloy shrugged, “we don’t need to put the weight of a second potential apocalypse on his shoulders.”  


“Hold on… _what_?!”  


Anukai grabbed the older redhead’s arm, bringing her to a stop in the space between two carts, while Ikrie nearly ran into them before hurrying past to stop Talanah.  


“What’s the confusion?” Aloy asked, frowning slightly.  


“The apocalypse part,” Anukai shot back. “No one said anything about this being that big.”  


“Anukai… we talked about the last time one of these signals appeared…”  


“You were born, and—”  


“And a rogue AI tried to kill everyone,” she interrupted. “I, for one, don’t take the reappearance of it that lightly.”  


“I mean… I don’t, either, but…”  


Aloy sighed, placing a tentative hand on the young redhead’s shoulder.  


“The world isn’t on fire, yet, Anukai,” she said softly. “We’re going into the west to make sure it doesn’t start. Okay?”  


The redhead girl bit her lower lip for a moment before nodding.  


“Now come on, I know exactly where Talanah’s taking us,” Aloy said, glancing toward the dark-haired women who waited nearby. “You might like it.”  


They resumed their trek through the city, with each redhead falling into steps beside their respective companions, until they reached their destination: a rather large, imposing building with the sounds of voices, music, and clinking metal spilling from the open doorway. As they stepped through the portal and into the cacophony inside, Anukai found her gaze lifting to take in the frozen image of a massive machine carcass in the center of the space.  


“Welcome to the Hunter’s Lodge, girls,” Talanah said, stepping before Anukai and Ikrie. “Open to any who prove themselves in the hunt. For today, you’re my special guests, so if anyone tries to give you a hard time, let me know.”  


They nodded, each girl’s gaze wandering about the bustle that had suddenly surrounded them. Not long after entering the space, however, they were approached by several hunters, it seemed, who Talanah immediately greeted. As the younger girls glanced around, they took in the surprising variety of tribal clothing on display, Anukai eventually spotting a small group of Banuk in one corner, their deep blue clothing standing out amidst the sea of light, Carja colors around them.  


For a moment, she was tempted to approach, but before she could, someone grabbed her left wrist and began to drag her toward them. She jumped in surprise, attempting to yank herself free, but when her gaze settled, she recognized Ikrie’s smirk before she nodded in the direction she had been pulling her.  


“Food,” she yelled over the noise.  


Anukai followed her in confusion until they came to what appeared to be a window into a busy room full of open fireplaces and roasting meat. Aloy leaned in over the wooden counter between herself and the woman in a sweat-stained, formerly white shirt on the other side, a similarly-stained cloth band tied across her forehead to hold her hair back. Not even a minute later, Anukai was handed a plate full of steaming food that instantly made her mouth water as she held it before her.  


Aloy deftly guided them through the crowded space and up a curved staircase in the middle of the room, before turning left and following a walkway along even more tables full of people speaking loudly. A few moments later, she cut toward the wall to her right, and Anukai glanced after her to find the older redhead taking a seat on a plush bench behind a low table. The younger redhead glanced back at Ikrie, who nudged her forward, glancing behind her as a man in a set of leather armor, not that much unlike the clothing Varga had worn at the edge of the Cut, attempted to slide past her, but ended up rubbing into the dark-haired huntress rather brusquely.  


A shiver ran through Ikrie as Anukai frowned, but stepped forward, sliding onto the couch beside Aloy, who had already begun to tear into the first piece of meat on her place, ripping it off the bone with nothing more than her teeth. Ikrie quickly sat next to Anukai, pressing up against her as she shivered, yet again.  


“You okay?” Anukai asked, leaning in toward her ear.  


“Yeah, just… never mind,” Ikrie said, making a face before glancing over at Anukai and smiling.  


The redhead eyed her warily for a moment, but eventually turned back to her food. The three of them ate in silence for several minutes, until they had finished their plates. Just as Aloy sighed and leaned back on the bench beside Anukai, Talanah appeared around the edge of the wooden paneling that been set up as a divider between their bench and another to their left. The dark-haired woman grinned as she glanced down at the other three before quickly slipping into the seat beside Aloy, leaning against the redhead with a sigh.  


“I thought they’d never shut up,” she said.  


“They like you,” Aloy laughed, wrapping one arm around the dark-haired woman’s shoulders and placing a gently kiss on the crown of her head, “and they just want to impress you.”  


“They need a Hawk, that’s why.”  


“I thought you weren’t sponsoring anyone?”  


“They think they’ll change my mind.”  


Aloy sighed, shaking her head before glancing toward the girls to her left and shifting her position slightly.  


“Why do they need a bird?” Anukai asked.  


The older women exchanged glances before immediately bursting out in laughter. The younger redhead felt her face grow hot as she turned to stare down at her empty place, folding her arms before her as best she could.  


“Sorry, sorry,” Aloy managed as her laughter began to abate. “More senior members of the Lodge are called Hawks. If you’re just starting, you’re called a Thrush.”  


Anukai nodded slowly, finally turning to look over at the women beside her, once again, as she felt the heat in her face fade.  


“So that’s why you called her that, last night?”  


“Yeah, because she thinks she’s being funny,” Talanah chimed in, jabbing Aloy in her side.  


The redhead attempted to squirm out of the way, but with little room to maneuver between Talanah and Ikrie, she received the brunt of the dark-haired woman’s blow.  


“It’s not my fault you can be easy to get a rise out of,” she shot back.  


Anukai found herself smirking as they continued to trade verbal jabs back and forth, all while Aloy’s arm remained wrapped around Talanah’s shoulders, and the dark-haired woman’s head leaned against the front of the older redhead’s shoulder. A strange, tight feeling appeared in the younger redhead’s chest, once again, as she turned back to face her plate before for a moment, although her eyes glanced to her left.  


Ikrie appeared to be watching the older women with amusement, and either didn’t notice Anukai’s glance, or chose not to react to it, which the younger redhead used to her advantage to look back down at her plate, shifting her position on the seat slightly.  


They remained in the Hunter’s Lodge for a short while, with the older women talking about things the girls didn’t understand, or about people they didn’t know, while Anukai and Ikrie simply watched the crowds of people about them. Finally, Aloy let out a heavy sigh and suggested that they all get moving, once again.  


Once they had placed their empty plates back on the counter where they had received them, earlier, and stepped outside, Anukai turned to the older redhead, once again.  


“Are we heading to that armory the Sun King mentioned?”  


The redhead sighed heavily as Talanah placed a hand on her back, once again.  


“Aloy… you know we need to…”  


“I know, just… fine, let’s get it over with.”  


With that, the older redhead began to lead the way along the street, prompting Anukai to glance after her in confusion. As Talanah moved to follow her, the younger redhead quickly fell in step beside her.  


“What’s wrong with the armory?” she whispered.  


Talanah jumped at the sound of her voice, glancing over for a moment before sighing.  


“Nothing with it, as a place, but… there’s someone that’s not easy for Aloy to see, there.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face, but Talanah didn’t say more, and hurried to catch up with the older redhead. As Ikrie took her place beside Anukai, they exchanged wary glances, but remained silent. After approximately ten minutes or so of walking, they came to a stop outside of a large building with several, large chimneys atop it, most of them spewing a stack of black smoke into the sky.  


Anukai wrinkled her nose at the smell of sulphur and other metalsmithing ingredients while glancing around at the people who milled about outside the building. Half of them were dressed in armor like the young man who had led them through the palace the day before, while the other half were dressed like the Oseram they had met at Free Heap.  


“You girls know what you’ll need for the trip?” Aloy asked, glancing back at them.  


They both nodded before the older redhead sighed and glanced to Talanah, once again.  


“Well, here we go.”  


As they stepped through the main doorway ahead of them, they were instantly overcome with the sounds of shouting, raging fires, and the heavy clanging of metal. Anukai eyed the forges and the red-hot, molten metal that came and went from them, along with the racks upon racks of weapons that lined the walls. Once they had made their way through the commotion to the far side of the room, Aloy brought them to a counter, behind which stood a rather bored-looking man with a shaved head and a large beard.  


“Working hard, I see,” the older redhead remarked, grinning.  


“Well, wouldya look at that?” the man said, straightening his posture as what seemed to be a smirk came over his features, although the beard did mask a good deal of his actual expression. “Two councilwomen come to visit? I di’n’t forget about n’inspection, did I?”  


“No, but I can make it one, if you’re worried.”  


The man and Aloy both laughed before clasping hands firmly between them.  


“Been a long time, Aloy,” he said, nodding. “Not much ‘venturing in yer life these days, huh?”  


“No…” Aloy sighed, shaking her head, “but that’s about to change.”  


“Oh?” he replied, leaning against the counter. “What’d good ole’ Avad put’ya up to, now?”  


“Nothing, but something sort of… came into my life, suddenly.”  


Aloy glanced back at Anukai, prompting the man to follow her gaze, his eyes widening as he caught sight of the younger redhead.  


“Fire ‘n spit,” he remarked. “Ya sure y di’n’t have some excitement a few years ago ya forgot t’mention?”  


“No,” Aloy said quickly, her face turning a deep red, “she’s not… Her name is Anukai. She came into Meridian yesterday, and… well, she’s the reason we’re leaving tomorrow morning.”  


The man glanced between the two redheads for several moments before shaking his head and raising his hands in a defeated gesture.  


“I won’t ask.”  


Aloy began to talk about ammunition and weapons, but Anukai found her attention wandering to the bustle about them, watching one of the Sparkworkers drawing the head of what appeared to be one of the pikes the Carja guards all carried from a forge and place it on another slab of metal. As soon as he did, he grabbed a metal hammer and began to pound at the red-hot steel, shaping it further into a blade.  


As she was so enraptured by the glow of the metal and sparks flying from his hits, she didn’t notice the figure approaching, even as the vague sound of shouting registered in the back of her mind. Finally, when her view of the Sparkworker was blocked, she blinked and glanced up at who had approached.  


“It’s loud in here, but I know you can hear me.”  


She recoiled at the intensity of the figure’s voice, her body instantly tensing as her hand itched to reach for her knife. The figure before was a rather imposing man who stood a good several inches taller than her. His head was shaved, like the man behind the counter who Aloy had spoken to, however instead of a full beard, he sported facial hair that looked as if a full beard had been shaved only on his chin and on his neck, leaving quite a distinctive shape, in place. He was built like many of the men Anukai had seen inside the armory, so far, although she noted that he wore the armor of one of the guards, rather than the Sparkworkers.  


“Still going to give me the silent treatment?” he pressed, taking another step closer to the younger redhead as she reflexively backed away. “You come all the way down here, and you can’t say a single, damn word?”  


Anukai’s hand settled on the hilt of her knife as the man’s eyes tracked her motion, a laugh escaping him.  


“Now that’s a new one.”  


“I don’t know who you are,” Anukai growled, her eyes locked on him while her heart pounded in her ears.  


“Don’t you pull that shit with me!” the man spat, jabbing a finger at her accusatorily. “I don’t need to hear it from you, too! Now, or ever!”  


Anukai slowly began to draw her knife from its sheath as the man took another aggressive step closer to her, only for Aloy’s voice to ring out amidst the cacophony of the armory from behind her.  


“Leave her alone, Erend!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm....


	8. We All Make Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, y'all.
> 
> _Slightly_ shorter chapter this week (9k vs. 10k words) but it had such a natural stopping point it didn't make sense to push it longer. Also, it's been a little bit of an exciting week, so there's that. I mentioned once in one of my previous fics (I think _Binary_?) that I also write, play, and produce music,; well, recently I started on a project that I'm excited to finally finish, for real. I've been working on an album of original music all based on Horizon: Zero Dawn since shortly after I finished my first playthrough of the game in October 2017, and so I've started to make the earnest effort to finish that all up and eventually release it.
> 
> If that sounds interesting to you, there'll be more to come. So whether you're reading this as it's posted or in the future, keep an eye on these little author's notes for further updates.
> 
> Anyhow, the title may sound a little more intense than this chapter, itself, however it all ties in by the end. This is more or less the requisite "breather chapter" in the middle of the story, as I'd say we're probably about halfway through, at this point. My goal is to aim for less chapters, but similar word count to my previous fics, so if that helps you gauge how things are going, there you go.
> 
> Brevity is not my strong suit.
> 
> Enjoy.

The man before Anukai paused, glancing up at the sound of the other voice. Confusion replaced the sneering anger for a moment as he seemingly glanced between the younger woman before him and the older woman in the distance. With one, final glance at Anukai, he turned to look over her shoulder as she spared a glance back, as well, to find that Aloy had approached, coming to a stop just beside the younger huntress.  


“She another one of your ideas?” he said, the vitriolic tone still present in his voice.  


“No, she’s not,” Aloy snapped. “She _is_ her own person, and you don’t need to antagonize her or bring her into your perceived conflict with me.”  


“Conflict?” he snapped, seemingly already having forgotten about Anukai as he turned to the older redhead fully. “If this were conflict I’d—”  


“What? Take a swing at me? Grab your hammer and try to bash my skull in?”  


Anukai’s eyes widened slightly at Aloy’s words as she found herself slowly beginning to shrink away from the two of them. The man, Erend, ground his teeth as he glared down at the older redhead before him.  


“See how ridiculous that sounds?”  


“It’s not like you’ve tried to mend any bridges—”  


“I saved your fucking life!” Aloy interrupted, refusing to back away from his glare or his looming figure. “I’ve never met someone ungrateful for that, before.”  


“Saved me?” he spat. “It’s because of you that I had to be ‘saved’! You might have prolonged it, tagged a few years onto it in the end, but you didn’t _save_ my life.”  


“You’re standing here, right now, arguing with me,” Aloy growled, “not dead. Seems pretty _saved_ to me.”  


The man continued to stare back down at her for several long moments before he let out a short, dry laugh, shaking his head.  


“Is that what happened to you, too?” he said, his voice quieter, although several of the Sparkworkers nearby seemed to have stopped working at the sound of the shouting and were watching the argument with almost as much attention as Anukai, lessening the din inside the armory. “That why you ended up with her?”  


He nodded over Aloy’s head, but she didn’t turn to look back, instead maintaining constant eye contact.  


“You were _saved_ , but you couldn’t get what you wanted with us, so—”  


“ _We_ ,” Aloy spat, interrupting him as she took another aggressive step forward, her face less than a foot from Erend’s, “are done talking, here.”  


They continued to glare at each other for several long moments before he sighed, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes tiredly.  


“Get what you need… and get the fuck out of here.”  


With that, Aloy spun on her heel, glancing toward Anukai and gesturing for her to follow. The younger redhead fell in step beside her quickly, grateful to leave the man behind, but still sparing a glance to make sure he hadn’t actually started following them.  


“Personal history?” she muttered to the older redhead.  


“Something like that.”  


When they approached the bearded man behind the counter, he sighed heavily, shaking his head.  


“Sorry, thought ‘e was off today,” he said.  


“No worries,” Aloy sighed, leaning against the counter. “Still need some things, though.”  


The bearded man showed them to the stores of weapons and ammunition types, quickly drawing raised eyebrows from both Ikrie and Anukai.  


“You have a bow, I remember,” Aloy said, gesturing to Anukai before turning to Ikrie. “Do you?”  


“I’m better with a sling,” she shrugged.  


“Really?” Talanah interjected. “Not many people who can say that.”  


Ikrie smirked.  


“Anyone’s good with a bow. I just thought it was too boring.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes as Talanah glanced to her.  


“What’s that for?”  


“Ikrie couldn’t draw a bowstring well enough when we were younger so they made her use a sling, instead,” she added, shooting a smirk at the other girl.  


“And she turned that disadvantage into an advantage,” the Carja woman said, nodding. “A lot of people would have just given up.”  


“Can’t when you’re Banuk,” Ikrie shrugged.  


“So, you only planning to bring your sling, then?” Aloy asked. “Going to be harder to craft ammunition if there aren’t any merchants around.”  


“I have my ways.”  


Anukai gave her a hard look but the other girl simply grinned back at her. With that, they began to peruse the ammunition available, however the younger redhead found her eyes drawn to a rack nearby and absentmindedly moved over to it. Her fingers traced the curve of a bow reinforced with what appeared to be steel along the upper and lower portions, although the grip in the center was left as finely carved wood.  


“Ah, eye’n the Adept bow, are ya?”  


She jumped at the sound of the bearded man beside her, but quickly tried to recompose herself.  


“It seems… impressive,” she said, shrugging.  


“Aye, s’one of our best bows,” he replied, nodding. “Couple’a our sparkworkers came in fresh from they’s classes.”  


He nodded toward Aloy and Talanah, who appeared to be arguing good-naturedly about something, both of them grinning while pointing emphatically at different containers.  


“Classes?” Anukai asked.  


“Aye, they up’n started a school fer everyone in’a Sundom,” he said, nodding. “Couple young’ins took’em, came ‘ere, and started makin’ weapons better’n most old timers.”  


The younger redhead nodded slowly before turning back to the weapon on the rack before her.  


“Can I try it?”  


“By all means.”  


Anukai carefully lifted the bow from the rack, holding it in her left hand as she gauged the weight of it, finding that even though it was reinforced with metal, it was surprisingly light.  


“I’ve never held steel this light before,” she said.  


“Aye, they ‘ammered it thin,” the man said. “Adds some spring t’it, but barely any weight.”  


Anukai held it at the ready, as if an arrow were nocked, feeling the tension in the bowstring in her right hand. As she released it, the string and bow snapped back into place with a firm twang, prompting her to nod in approval.  


“Feels good, innit?”  


She glanced over at the man, grinning.  


“Real good, yeah.”  


They both laughed before Anukai sighed and began to place it back on the rack.  


“Probably costs as many shards as a whole Strider, though.”  


“Aye, normally s’expensive, but,” he said, glancing over his shoulder before turning back to her. “Seeing’s yer with them two… I’ll cut a deal.”  


The younger huntress raised her eyebrows.  


“Oh?”  


“Five thousand shards.”  


Anukai frowned slightly, reaching toward her belt and drawing her pouch. She shuffled through its contents before reaching for another just beside it.  


“I’ve got about two thousand,” she said, “but how does that plus some bluegleam sound?”  


The man’s eyebrows raised as one corner of Anukai’s lips began to pull back in a smirk.  


“You got bluegleam on ya?”  


Anukai reached into the other pouch beside the shards and produced a palm full of the bright, blue crystals. The bearded man leaned closer before she held her hand toward him, motioning for him to take one. He grabbed one of the small pieces from her palm, turning it over several times before holding it up before a stream of sunlight through a nearby window.  


“Fire’n spit, girl, I’nt never seen some with my own eyes,” he remarked. “This far south? Impossible t’find.”  


“So… deal?”  


The man glanced back at Anukai as she ran her thumb across the crystals that remained in her palm, spreading them out. With a grin, the man nodded.  


“Deal.”  


As Anukai returned to the others, new bow in hand and a quiver of complimentary ammunition the man had given her on her hip, Talanah raised one eyebrow.  


“What’d you get, there?”  


The younger redhead grinned, holding up the bow for her to see. Talanah’s eyes widened slightly as she stepped over to her, scanning with just her eyes for a moment before turning to Anukai.  


“May I?”  


The redhead nodded and the Carja woman took it from her, testing the weapon out as she had done moments ago, before turning back to her with an impressed expression.  


“I’ve seen some of the weapons they’ve been making here,” she said, “but this one’s gotta be one of the best I’ve held, myself.”  


Aloy turned around at their conversation, curiosity etched into her face. When she saw the bow in Talanah’s hands, she also stepped over.  


“Check out Anukai’s new bow,” the dark-haired woman said, grinning.  


Aloy’s eyebrows raised as she turned to the younger redhead.  


“You bought this?”  


She nodded, still grinning.  


“I hope Jarus didn’t charge you a fortune for it.”  


“We struck a deal,” Anukai shrugged.  


Aloy took the bow from Talanah, testing it herself, before nodding and handing it back to Anukai.  


“First bow you didn’t make yourself?”  


The younger redhead shook her head.  


“Bought my current one from a Carja trader a year or so ago.”  


Several minutes later, they had gathered all of the ammunition and supplies each of them deemed needed before making their way back to the counter where the bearded man stood, once again.  


“Found everything?” he asked, straightening up from leaning against the counter as they approached.  


“Almost,” Aloy said, coming to a stop before him and leaning closer.  


She said something else, but it was too quiet for Anukai to hear. The man nodded before turning to a wooden fixture beside him, unlocking the heavy latch and opening one of the doors. A moment later, he produced something from inside, turning back to Aloy and holding it for her to see. Anukai craned her neck to try to see it, as well, but confusion creased her face when she didn’t recognize what it was.  


Aloy nodded, taking the device from his hands and turning it over once or twice. It appeared to be some kind of mechanism made from metal with a carved wooden handle. The older redhead slid her shards across the counter as the man also placed a pouch that clinked as if something metal were inside before her.  


The others moved to pay for their items, but Anukai quickly slipped over to Aloy, trying to get a better look at the weapon in her hands.  


“What is that?” she asked quietly.  


The older redhead sighed, glancing up at her.  


“An unfortunate part of history repeating itself.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face, but she didn’t say anything else, instead attaching the pouch the man had given her to her belt and sliding the weapon beneath it, as well. It wasn’t much longer than her own hand, but something told her that it was deadlier than it looked, if Aloy was unwilling to talk about it.  


As they left the armory, the man who had confronted Anukai and Aloy was nowhere to be seen, thankfully, and they were able to leave in peace, quickly leaving the heat and noise of the armory behind as they returned to the city streets of Meridian.  


“Hey, what’d you get?”  


Ikrie suddenly appeared beside Anukai, tugging at the bowstring across her torso.  


“Something nice,” she shot back, smirking.  


“Look at you,” the dark-haired girl scoffed. “We come to Meridian for one day and you’re already spending all your shards.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes before checking her playfully with one shoulder.  


“So, now that we’re all stocked up,” Talanah said, glancing back at the girls, “anything you’ve been dying to see or do in Meridian before we leave tomorrow?”  


The girls glanced at each other before shrugging.  


“Talanah, don’t get too carried away,” Aloy chided, glancing over at her.  


“I’m not,” she scoffed, shooting the older redhead an incredulous look. “I just think it wouldn’t hurt to have a little fun, now, and maybe get to know each other a little better before we have to spend who knows how long together on the trail.”  


Aloy shook her head as Talanah grinned and glanced back at the girls.  


“So… I think I might know the place.”  


After returning to the palace briefly to drop off their equipment, the girls met Aloy and Talanah at the end of the bridge. The dark-haired Carja had ditched the metal, armored pieces of her outfit, it seemed, while Anukai couldn’t remember if the portion beneath had bared her midriff, the entire time, or if that had also changed. Aloy had also seemingly shed some of the silks she had worn earlier, opting for a single, light blue, loose-fitting top that was pulled more tightly around her abdomen and tucked under a bright yellow belt that held a red-and-white skirt in place over a pair of dark, leather leggings beneath.  


“I didn’t realize we were supposed to change,” Ikrie quipped, smirking as they approached the older women.  


“Too much weight,” Talanah shrugged.  


“I just felt like it,” Aloy added, smirking.  


The dark-haired woman rolled her eyes as she hit her shoulder playfully. With that, they led the group back into the streets of Meridian, the crowds from before no thinner, but changed in composition. No longer were they primarily older adults shopping for wares or merchants rushing about, but a younger brand of Carja, complete with flashier, brighter clothing. Anukai eyed a group seemingly about her age as they passed, each of them dressed in bright, gaudy colors while they talked and laughed loudly. One thing that did catch her attention the most, however, was what appeared to be the face paint of the girl closest to her: it looked like a series of small lines extending from her lower eyelid, every other one adorned with a small circle at the tip.  


Curiosity creased her face as turned her attention away before she could feel that she was staring for too long. As she did, however, she found Ikrie watching her with an amused expression.  


“What?”  


“Feeling a little jealous?”  


“What?!”  


Ikrie laughed as Anukai shoved her playfully, the dark-haired girl staggering before catching herself on the doorway of a building they were passing. After a little while longer of wandering, the older women led them up a set of stairs to an upper level that they hadn’t even noticed before. Almost immediately, they took a hard right and came to a stop before a rather innocuous door.  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as Talanah knocked loudly before waiting several seconds and knocking again.  


Almost immediately, the door opened a crack, prompting Talanah to raise her eyebrows.  


“Got room for four?”  


The door opened fully, revealing a young woman in a flowing, silk dress with a similar face-paint design as the one Anukai had seen earlier.  


“You know the way,” she said, grinning as she glanced between Aloy and Talanah.  


As they moved past the girl, she glanced to Anukai before pulling a double take.  


“By the Sun, you’re not her…?”  


“No, I’m not,” Anukai said quickly.  


“It’s a long story,” Aloy replied, appearing behind the confused girl’s shoulder. “She’s with us.”  


“I can assume that,” she said, eying Anukai up and down once again before nodding after the older women. “You coming or what?”  


The younger redhead slipped past her, followed quickly by Ikrie. Almost immediately, the girl closed the door behind them, leaving them in a much darker space than the afternoon sunlight outside. The girls blinked rapidly as their eyes adjusted, eventually revealing a much larger room than either of them had expected.  


The space appeared to stretch a good ways back into the building, with smaller walls and doorways separating the otherwise wide-open space into smaller areas. Each smaller section contained what appeared to be plush seats and benches strewn about them, with roughly half of them filled with patrons. The space was only lit by candles that appeared to be strategically placed about the walls, the sheer number of them needed to even provide the low lighting that existed leaving a smoky haze in the air.  


Along the farthest wall, Anukai noted a long, wooden counter with multiple shelves behind it, all containing intricate bottles full of liquids of a variety of colors.  


Something tapped Anukai on her arm and she glanced toward it to find Talanah beckoning her to follow, leading the way farther into the space. After sliding through the maze of seats and benches in several sections, Aloy fell onto one of them in the corner of the room, letting out a sigh.  


“What is this place?” Anukai asked quietly, taking a seat on an adjacent bench and bouncing slightly at how soft its surface felt.  


“A little hideaway,” the older redhead said, smirking. “You have to be in the know, though.”  


“In the know?”  


“Yeah, like you know us, so you’re in the know,” Talanah said, nudging Aloy’s leg with her shin. “You want anything?”  


“My usual,” the redhead replied, glancing up at her with a smile.  


“I shouldn’t even ask anymore,” she sighed, shaking her head before turning to the girls. “I’ll think of something you two might like.”  


“For what?” Ikrie asked.  


“You’ll see.”  


With that, the Carja woman sidled off through the seats toward the long counter Anukai had seen earlier. With a slight frown, she turned back to the low table that sat before her, noting some kind of strange device in the center of it. It appeared to be a narrow, metal cylinder that stood on a raised base with some kind of tubes attached to it.  


“What’s this?”  


Aloy laughed, glancing toward her with a smirk.  


“You’ll see.”  


Anukai pouted, glancing first to Aloy before turning to Ikrie.  


“Do you feel as nervous as I do?”  


Ikrie shrugged, prompting Anukai to roll her eyes and lean back in her seat, sinking into the plush fabric that covered the back, as well. A few moments later, Talanah returned holding four, short glasses, each filled with a different colored liquid. She handed an amber-colored one to Aloy before placing the clear and lighter, almost yellow-colored ones before the girls.  


“What are these?” Ikrie asked, grabbing the clear one and sniffing it before recoiling and wrinkling her nose.  


“My gifts to you,” the Carja woman said, laughing as she took a seat beside Aloy, the older women clinking their glasses together before taking sips.  


Anukai glanced down at the yellow-colored liquid before also grabbing it and taking a whiff. The strong, acrid scent immediately burned the back of her throat as she coughed and turned her head away.  


“You’ve got to taste them, before you judge them,” Aloy laughed.  


The girls glanced down at their drinks before glancing up at each other and slowly taking sips of their own. Immediately, a taste as strong as the scent had been filled Anukai’s mouth, along with a slight burning sensation, and she nearly spat it back out, but eventually managed to swallow, only to immediately begin coughing a moment later.  


Ikrie appeared to contemplate the liquid in her glass, but didn’t react quite as viscerally as Anukai had, seemingly lost more in contemplation.  


“What is that?” the younger redhead managed.  


“A new Carja specialty,” Talanah said, taking a sip from her drink that appeared to be the same as the one in Anukai’s hand.  


“Okay, but what is it?”  


“It’s derived from an ancient recipe for something known as tequila,” the dark-haired woman explained.  


“Why does it burn?”  


The older women both laughed as Anukai frowned, yet again, turning back to Ikrie.  


“How’s yours?”  


“Not bad,” she shrugged, offering it to her. “Wanna try?”  


The redhead regarded her drink skeptically, but took the offered glass, handing hers off to the dark-haired girl, as well. The scent of the clear liquid was equally pungent, but did not immediately have the same burn in her throat as the first. As she sipped it, she still found it left a slight burning sensation in her mouth, but, like the scent, it wasn’t nearly as strong as the first drink.  


“This is… better,” she commented, glancing to the girl beside her.  


Ikrie was nodding as she looked down at her drink.  


“You know… I actually like this one,” she said, glancing up at Anukai with a smirk. “Mind if I keep it?”  


“By all means.”  


“Well, one out of two works for me,” Talanah said, shrugging.  


Aloy laughed and hit her shoulder playfully, shaking her head.  


“I take it you two haven’t had much alcohol, before?”  


Anukai shook her head.  


“Banuk alcohol is… scary.”  


“If it’s anything like Oseram alcohol, I can guess so,” Aloy replied, taking a sip of her drink before considering it and holding it toward Anukai. “Want to try?”  


The younger redhead considered the offered glass for a moment before hesitantly taking it from her. Yet again, the smell was not entirely pleasant, but it carried an almost earthy tone to it that intrigued her. She took a small sip and while it burned like the other two had, she found that she actually didn’t mind the flavor that lingered in her mouth as much.  


“What is that?” she asked, handing it back to Aloy.  


“You like it?”  


“The best out of the things I’ve tried so far.”  


Aloy laughed loudly, shaking her head.  


“You’re a Sobeck all right…”  


“What?”  


The older redhead cleared her throat, quickly taking a sip of her drink.  


“Nothing, never mind,” she muttered. “This is based on an ancient recipe for something called whiskey.”  


Anukai repeated the word, nodding slowly. As she turned back to Ikrie, she found that just over half of the liquid in her glass was gone, already, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise.  


“You like that, huh?”  


Ikrie nodded, grinning.  


“It’s growing on me.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes but sipped her drink again, part of her not content to lag behind, but the taste of hers only made her wrinkle her nose, particularly after trying Aloy’s a moment ago.  


“Not really liking that?”  


She glanced back to Talanah and made an awkward gesture somewhere close to a shrug, which only prompted her to take another drink under the smirk of the Carja woman.  


“It’s fine,” the dark-haired woman said. “I should have known you and Aloy would have similar tastes, though.”  


“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” the older redhead shot back, already swirling the last few sips of her own drink.  


“Well, I, uh…”  


“You think just because we look alike means everything is?”  


Talanah glanced between Aloy and Anukai, a somewhat wide-eyed expression on her face, before the older redhead laughed loudly and placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her slightly.  


“I’m messing with you, Tal.”  


The Carja woman narrowed her eyes at Aloy, who finished her glass before looking back to her with a smile.  


“You need another?”  


Talanah glanced down at her half-full drink and shook her head. Aloy then glanced toward Anukai, pointing to the glass in her hand.  


“I’ll get you one of these, though.”  


The younger redhead only had time to nod before Aloy leapt to her feet and slid past Talanah, making her way toward the counter with the bottles she had seen earlier, presumably. In her absence, Talanah suddenly slid over on her seat so she was closer to Anukai and Ikrie, taking care not to spill her glass as she did.  


“So, I know you two are Banuk,” she began, gesturing between them, “but what’s the rest of your story? Where are you two from? Did you two grow up together?”  


Anukai blinked at the barrage of questions, glancing toward Ikrie as the other girl finished the last of her drink and sighed.  


“We’re from a part of Banuk territory called the Sheers,” the dark-haired girl said, seemingly unaware of the redhead’s glance. “It’s… kind of in the north… east portion?”  


She finally turned to Anukai to find the redhead regarding her with a grin.  


“What?”  


“Seems like you’ve got it,” she said, taking a sip of her drink and leaning back in her seat.  


Ikrie regarded her with a confused expression for a moment before shrugging and turning back to Talanah.  


“We grew up together, yeah,” she continued.  


“Did… same parents?” Talanah asked quietly, leaning in toward them.  


Both girls shook their heads.  


“Anukai was raised by good friends of my parents,” Ikrie said. “She was…”  


The dark-haired girl suddenly stopped, looking to Anukai as her cheeks began to turn red.  


“Sorry, if you want to tell her…”  


Anukai smiled slightly before turning back to the Carja woman, only to find Aloy returning at that exact moment. The redhead placed a new glass of the same amber liquid she had earlier on the table before Anukai before falling onto the seat next to Talanah with her own.  


“What’re you all talking about?” she said before taking a sip of her drink.  


“Just trying to get to know each other,” Talanah said, glancing back at her and smiling.  


Aloy nodded, leaning forward to brace her elbows on her knees.  


“Sorry to interrupt.”  


Talanah turned back to Anukai expectantly as the younger redhead suddenly found her throat constricting tightly, holding the words in her chest as her heart beat began to race. She tried to swallow to ease the tension, but it did little to help. Finally, she resorted to her last, desperate measure: downing the rest of the drink in her hand.  


The other three reacted in surprise as she brought the glass down on the table before her with a heavy sigh.  


“Well,” she began, feeling a strange light-headedness wash over her for a moment, “as Ikrie started to say, I was raised by friends of her parents. From what we were told, I was… _found_.”  


She noted how Aloy seemed to tense ever so slightly, but otherwise remained silent.  


“A shaman heard the sound of something deep and metallic from inside one of their retreats, and when she went to investigate, she found… me.”  


Anukai paused, yet again, reaching for the drink Aloy had brought her.  


“And what did they think?” the older redhead asked softly.  


The younger redhead took a sip of her new drink before clearing her throat.  


“They thought I had to be of some of the purest Banuk blood, to be born of the ice, deep within the mountain.”  


A small, sad smile pulled at Aloy’s lips as she nodded.  


“She certainly has the attitude,” Ikrie suddenly chimed in, prompting the redhead to shoot her a dirty look. “What? I called you stubborn earlier and you didn’t deny it.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes as she hit Ikrie’s knee with hers.  


“So, you told Avad earlier that you two were members of the Snow Ghosts,” Talanah asked, moving the conversation onward, “and you said that was your… werak?”  


The girls nodded, turning back to her.  


“We’re a werak of two,” Ikrie said. “Two Snow Ghosts… free to do what we will.”  


Anukai grinned, glancing back to her, only to find Ikrie regarding her with a soft smile, her eyes locked on the redhead.  


“Like venture all the way to Meridian with only a name to go on?”  


They both started, turning back to the older women to find them both with smirks firmly set on their features.  


“Y-yeah, something like that,”Anukai said, taking a sip of her drink.  


Talanah finished her drink before glancing back at Aloy with an impish grin, prompting the older redhead to look to her with concern.  


“What’s that look for?”  


“I’m thinking… I’ll be right back.”  


“Tal…”  


“Don’t—worry,” the dark-haired woman said, leaning forward and placing a kiss on the redhead’s forehead before hopping to her feet and scurrying past her and out of sight, once again.  


The older redhead sighed, shaking her head.  


“So…” Anukai said slowly, bringing Aloy’s attention back to her, “your second-in-command?”  


Aloy’s face quickly began to turn a shade of deep red as she took another sip of her drink.  


“Well… okay, you already know the answer to that,” she sighed.  


“I take it you two are mates,” the younger redhead said, smirking.  


“That—uh—yeah, you could say that.”  


“I mean, or you could just be… _very good friends_.”  


Aloy laughed loudly as she shook her head.  


“Okay, yeah, no,” she said, taking a longer drink from her glass and bringing it to near-empty. “Mates, partners, wives, whatever you want to call it.”  


Anukai smirked before taking a drink from her glass, as well. A moment later, she felt a tap on her arm and glanced over to find Ikrie glancing between her drink and her face.  


“Can I try?”  


The redhead grinned but handed her the glass. The dark-haired girl took a much bigger drink than she expected, nearly finishing what was left of it, herself.  


“Hey!”  


Ikrie grinned as she swallowed the remainder of the liquid in her mouth and handed the glass back to her.  


“Tastes good.”  


“Get your own.”  


“I just might have to.”  


Anukai narrowed her eyes at the dark-haired huntress, who mimicked her. A moment later, the sound of footsteps approaching prompted them to turn toward them. Talanah reappeared a moment later with another four glasses, although only three of them were filled with liquid. The younger redhead tried to see what was in the fourth one, but she couldn’t tell if it was simply too dark, or if the image was actually moving in and out of focus before her. The Carja woman placed one of the liquid glasses before Ikrie before placing the other three on the side of the table before Aloy and herself.  


“Maybe we should slow down a little…” Aloy said quietly.  


“Feeling it a little bit?” Talanah teased, smirking at the older redhead.  


“We do have something to do, tomorrow…”  


“And we’ll be fine,” she said. “This will clear our heads.”  


“That’s… that’s not how it works… you know that.”  


Talanah placed a finger over Aloy’s lips as she let out a quiet “shhh” before smirking and turning to start messing with the metal device on the table. Anukai watched her go through a seemingly intricate process with checking multiple parts of it before reaching for a small, metal box she hadn’t noticed before. Opening it, she revealed a few small pieces of something that appeared to be glowing with heat before carefully placing dumping them in a particular compartment of the device.  


Finally, with a sigh, she carefully dumped some of whatever was in the last glass into a part at the top before grabbing one of the hoses and appearing to breathe through it for several long moments. When she pulled away from it, she exhaled a small plume of smoke, nodding.  


“So… who wants to try?”  


Ikrie and Anukai both stared back at her in confusion.  


“What… what is it?” the dark-haired girl asked.  


“This was adapted from something the Sun Priests use as part of their prayer rituals,” Talanah explained. “It… puts you in a different frame of mind.”  


“And why I said maybe—” Aloy began, but Talanah simply rolled her eyes and quickly placed a kiss on her, stopping the redhead’s words in her throat.  


“And I said it was fine,” she said as she pulled away, one hand still held under Aloy’s chin. “Trust me?”  


The older redhead seemed to stare back at her with half-lidded eyes for a moment before she grinned, shaking her head.  


“You know I’m never going to say no…”  


“I know,” Talanah replied, kissing her briefly, once again, before turning back to the younger girls. “So, like I asked… who wants to try?”  


There were multiple tubes attached to the device, so each girl grabbed one. Following Talanah’s directions, they inhaled steadily, although both quickly recoiled as smoke hit the backs of their throats.  


“That… feels like it can’t be good for you,” Anukai managed through her coughing fit.  


“You’ll be fine,” Talanah laughed. “Just take it slow, at first.”  


The younger redhead looked at her skeptically before glancing over to find Ikrie already trying, again. With a sigh, she did, as well, trying to calm her initial reaction as she inhaled whatever smoke came from the device into her lungs.  


When she exhaled, she eyed the plume of light-colored smoke she could just make out against the light of the candles in the background. Not long after, she found herself quickly losing track of time, the never-changing low light of the room not helping discern how long they had been there, either.  


The conversation had shifted to something much less serious almost immediately after they had begun using the strange device. While Anukai couldn’t remember exactly what they were talking about, she was aware that her face seemed to be permanently set into a smile, the entire time.  


Finally, when Aloy excused herself for a moment, Anukai felt herself seemingly snap back into place within the moment, once again, and she blinked rapidly. Breathing a sigh, she rubbed at her eyes with one hand. When she glanced toward Talanah, she found her regarding her with a knowing smirk. Confusion creased her face before the Carja woman nodded toward the other side of the bench.  


Anukai turned to her left, only for her eyes to instantly widen some. Ikrie had apparently changed her position at some point, sliding up against the younger redhead and lifting her feet onto the far side of the plush bench where they sat. The dark-haired girl’s head rested against Anukai’s shoulder, her eyes half-closed.  


Instantly, the heat began to rise in the redhead’s face, along with a tight feeling in her chest, but she also didn’t make any motions to move the other girl. As her gaze travelled down from the freckled face incredibly close to hers, she also found that Ikrie’s arm appeared to be wrapped around hers, one hand gently holding the redhead’s in her own.  


Anukai swallowed nervously, glancing back toward Talanah.  


“You two…?”  


Anukai shook her head quickly before pausing, her mouth hanging open for a moment. Before she could even say a word, Talanah let out a soft “ahh” and nodded, a warm, genuine smile settling on her face.  


“I get it,” she said softly.  


Anukai only felt her face grow warmer as she closed her mouth, nodding shortly. A moment later, Aloy returned, only to pause as she noted the girls, a grin appearing on her face, as well. The younger redhead hung her head, unable to meet her eyes.  


“We should probably be going,” Aloy said. “We’ve got an early morning.”  


Anukai quickly nodded, glancing back up at the older women.  


“We’ll clean up, you—uh—get her up,” Talanah said, smirking at Anukai before collecting the glasses off the table and following Aloy back out of the section they had occupied so far.  


With a sigh, Anukai turned to Ikrie beside her, gently shaking her shoulder to try to rouse her. The dark-haired girl blinked several times, her eyes opening slightly farther as she turned her head to look up at the redhead.  


“Hey,” she said slowly, a broad smile tugging at her lips.  


“Hey,” Anukai replied, “we’re about to leave, so…”  


Ikrie sighed heavily, her smile faltering somewhat, but nodded. She slowly began to disentangle herself from Anukai, pushing herself to a more upright, seated position on the bench. Just as her head finally lifted from the redhead’s shoulder, however, she paused, slowly turning to look back at Anukai, who raised her eyebrows in question.  


A moment later, Ikrie placed one hand on the side of the redhead’s face and pulled herself closer, her lips quickly finding their place against Anukai’s. The redhead’s heart began to pound in her ears, however instead of simply freezing in panic, she found her lips parting in response, pulling one of Ikrie’s between them.  


All haziness that had settled over her from the drinks and whatever she had inhaled seem to burn away in an instant, leaving her acutely aware as her own hand slowly reached forward until she felt it lay against Ikrie’s side. The dark-haired girl adjusted her position, her lips pulling away from Anukai’s for a moment, only to press forward even more firmly, once again.  


The redhead’s fingers slowly curled around the fabric of the dark-haired girl’s tunic, tugging at it ever so slightly, as she could feel the trembling in them. Several moments later, they finally parted, once again, but remained close enough that Anukai could feel her nose brush against Ikrie’s. The other girl let out a slow, shuddering sigh that washed over the lower half of the redhead’s face.  


“Figured that was my chance,” Ikrie breathed softly, her eyes locking with Anukai’s as a smile tugged at her lips, yet again.  


Anukai swallowed and laughed nervously.  


“O-oh?”  


“You didn’t say no.”  


The redhead felt a shiver run down her spine as her fingers slowly relaxed from their grip on the dark-haired girl’s tunic before something took hold of her and she pressed forward, placing her lips against Ikrie’s, for a moment. Once she pulled back, only a second or two later, Anukai met her gaze, once again, finding the other girl’s eyes half-closed while a smile continued to tug at her lips.  


“No, I didn’t.”  


With that, Anukai finally managed to pull herself away, rising to her feet before offering a hand to Ikrie. The other girl took it, using it to pull herself somewhat unsteadily to her feet, before letting out a heavy sigh and nodding.  


“Okay… walking… think I can do that…”  


“Hope so.”  


Anukai glanced toward the doorway the older women had taken to get their drinks, earlier, to find both of them waiting in the next section, grinning. The redhead felt her face grow hot, once again, as she back to Ikrie, nodding toward them.  


“Come on, this way.”  


As they exited the hazy, candlelit den, they quickly found that the sun was well on its way to setting, the streets now primarily lit by the glowing lights from the windows of the various buildings about them, although Anukai did note what appeared to be metal poles with lights atop them placed about the streets that distinctly did not appear to be lit by any form of flame.  


The streets were no less crowded, however, although by now they were distinctly full of the younger, more energetic crowd that had only just begun to prowl them, earlier. Anukai barely had time to take in any of them, however, as Ikrie appeared much more unstable on her feet than she had first let on, constantly gripping the redhead’s arm for support.  


“Is she okay?” Aloy asked, appearing on Anukai’s right side.  


“I… hope so,” she replied, glancing over at Ikrie as she carefully placed a hand on her back. “How’re you holding up?”  


“I’m… fantastic,” the dark-haired girl replied, hiccupping slightly.  


“Really?”  


“Never better.”  


“You’re not walking in a straight line.”  


Ikrie let out a dismissive sound, attempting to wave, as well, but primarily slapping Anukai on the stomach, instead.  


“You’re… not a… straight line…”  


Anukai’s lips drew into a thin line as she glanced over at Aloy, prompting the older redhead to sigh and shake her head.  


“I warned her…” she muttered before glancing ahead. “Talanah!”  


The Carja woman came to a stop, glancing back at them from the edge of a small open area ahead of them.  


“Look what you did to the poor girl!”  


Talanah frowned as she glanced toward Ikrie.  


“She’s… not in good shape…”  


“I told you,” Ikrie sighed, attempting to stand up on her own, but quickly staggering to the left, prompting Anukai to grab her shoulders and pull her back from her trajectory into an empty merchant’s stall, “I’m fine!”  


“Sure you are,” Anukai replied, sighing.  


“We’ll walk you both back to your room,” Aloy said.  


“Thanks.”  


The rest of the walk was filled with Anukai attempting to keep Ikrie following the relative same path as the rest of them, while also trying not to trip on her feet as they weaved before her, on occasion. The dark-haired girl, to her word, seemed to be enjoying herself, talking and laughing loudly, although the other three were at a loss as to what exactly she was saying, half of the time.  


When they finally reached the bridge to the palace, the Carja guards nodded to the two younger women before eying the girls behind them warily. Anukai shifted her arm around Ikrie as she continued to lead her onto the wooden bridge. Almost immediately, however, the dark-haired girl began to shake her head and tug on the redhead’s arm, dragging her to the left.  


“What’s wrong?”  


“T-too… too high… I…”  


Ikrie suddenly let out a retching sound as she dry heaved and Anukai’s eyes widened.  


“Come on, we’re almost there…”  


“N-no, not gonna…”  


The next second, Ikrie heaved, once again, but something actually came up. Anukai’s nose wrinkled in disgust as she glanced up to see Aloy and Talanah rushing back to them. The older redhead helped lift Ikrie up, leading her over to the edge of the bridge, where she quickly leaned against it and vomited off the side, coughing loudly.  


The redheads exchanged glances over the dark-haired girl’s back before Aloy turned to Talanah, once again.  


“I told you…”  


“She was fine until right now!”  


“You bought multiple rounds!”  


Anukai tuned them out as she rubbed Ikrie’s back, leaning against the railing beside her as the huntress coughed and vomited, once again.  


“I… I think I may not be fine…” she muttered.  


“No… probably not,” Anukai sighed.  


“I’m sorry.”  


“For what?”  


“For…” she heaved, once again, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand, “for this.”  


“Had to learn sometime.”  


“But… I was feeling… so good before…”  


Anukai laughed, shaking her head.  


“You’ll be fine… eventually.”  


Ikrie heaved, once again, but nothing came up, and she only spit over the edge of the railing.  


“I think… I don’t think there’s anything left…”  


“Maybe not.”  


“Can it please stop, now?”  


The redhead smirked, rubbing the dark-haired girl’s back, once again before sliding her arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer in a one-armed embrace.  


“You’ll owe me,” she quipped.  


“Anything.”  


Anukai raised her eyebrows as she glanced over at her.  


“Anything?”  


Ikrie nodded, coughing before spitting into the open air beside the bridge, once again.  


“Well… I’ll keep that in mind.”  


The dark-haired girl nodded before leaning her head to one side, resting it on Anukai’s shoulder.  


“Tell me everything’s going to be okay.”  


A hard lump instantly appeared in the redhead’s throat as she felt a shiver run down her spine.  


“You mean… like…?”  


“Tomorrow,” she sighed. “Tell me everything’s going to be okay tomorrow.”  


The redhead nodded slowly, squeezing Ikrie’s opposite upper arm gently.  


“You’ll be fine, tomorrow.”  


The dark-haired girl nodded, but kept her head against Anukai’s shoulder.  


“You’re going to have to walk again, though.”  


“No…”  


“Ikrie…”  


The girl sighed, but spit over the railing one last time and nodded.  


“I can probably make it…”  


Anukai glanced over her shoulder to find Aloy and Talanah behind them, the dark-haired woman standing with her arms folded over her chest and staring down at the ground as the older redhead rubbed at her eyes tiredly. A moment later, she stepped to the Carja woman and wrapped her in an embrace, Talanah returning it.  


As the younger redhead turned back to Ikrie, she gently began to pull her away from the railing. The dark-haired girl instantly wrapped her arm behind Anukai’s back, gripping her opposite side tightly. The other huntress moved slightly more sluggishly than normal, putting most of her weight on Anukai, but she was at least moving, once again.  


When the younger redhead glanced over, she found Aloy and Talanah returning to them, once again.  


“She seems to be feeling a little better,” the older redhead said, nodding toward Ikrie.  


“She’s walking, again,” Anukai shrugged.  


Talanah frowned, turning back to the younger redhead.  


“You need any help?”  


“I’ve got her.”  


The Carja woman nodded, sparing another glance to Aloy before sighing.  


“I’m sorry, I… I should have kept more of an eye on her…”  


“She made a mistake,” Anukai shrugged. “She’ll live, and she’ll learn.”  


“Yeah, but…”  


“Growing up, all Banuk have to learn their limits, in everything,” the younger redhead cut in. “If it doesn’t kill you, that’s even better.”  


Talanah frowned at the answer, but nodded and didn’t press further. The remainder of the walk to the girls’ room took longer than it had earlier, but they eventually found themselves standing before the heavy wooden door as Aloy pushed it open for them. Anukai carefully maneuvered herself and Ikrie through the opening and to the bed, where she sat the dark-haired girl on the edge.  


“You okay to sit for a moment?” she asked, placing both hands on Ikrie’s shoulders.  


She nodded, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. Anukai pat her shoulder gently before standing up straight and moving back to the door, where Talanah and Aloy remained.  


“My original idea was to leave before dawn,” the older redhead said quietly, glancing past Anukai for a moment before turning back to her, “but I feel that may be a lot to ask, now.”  


“It’s sunset,” Anukai shrugged, “dawn’s hours away.”  


“You sure?”  


“We’ve dealt with worse injuries before.”  


Aloy looked skeptical, but nodded.  


“Let’s meet at the elevators on the southeast side of Meridian just before dawn, then,” she said. “If we don’t see you by sunrise, we’ll come check.”  


“We’ll be there,” Anukai replied, nodding resolutely.  


Aloy mirrored the gesture before letting out a sigh.  


“Sleep well, Anukai.”  


“Wait…”  


The older redhead paused, raising her eyebrows slightly.  


“Do you… could we maybe… talk about… something?”  


Surprise registered on Aloy’s face for a moment before she visibly swallowed.  


“Would it be okay to wait until morning?”  


Anukai chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment before sighing and nodding.  


“I’m sorry, kid, I… we’ve all had a long day,” she said, tentatively placing a hand on Anukai’s shoulder. “I promise we’ll talk about whatever you want in the morning.”  


The younger redhead nodded, once again, trying not to focus on the strange shiver that ran down her spine at Aloy’s touch. With that, the older redhead smiled, letting her hand fall to her side as she began to move away from the doorway.  


“Sleep well.”  


With that, Anukai closed the door, leaving her in the blue semi-darkness of the room she and Ikrie shared. Her hand remained on the inside of the door for several long moments before she drew in a deep breath through her nose and turned around, finding Ikrie still seated on the edge of the bed, seemingly struggling with removing her boots.  


“I’ll get those,” the redhead sighed, moving around the end and kneeling before the dark-haired girl.  


Ikrie muttered something that sounded like a thanks as her head hung forward into her hands. Once Anukai had removed the huntress’s boots and tossed them with the rest of her belongings on the other side of the room, she rose to her feet, once again, finding Ikrie’s head still in her hands.  


“Everything okay?”  


“I feel like… such an idiot,” she muttered through her fingers.  


“Why?”  


“Because I let myself get carried away and now…”  


“Hey, I already said everything’s going to be okay.”  


“Because I asked you to!”  


Ikrie finally pulled her hands away, revealing wet trails running from the corners of her eyes.  


“Okay, Ikrie… you just need some sleep,” Anukai sighed, placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “You’ll feel so much better when you wake up.”  


“I don’t think I could even—”  


“Hey, remember when you said you’d owe me anything?” Anukai interrupted, crouching before Ikrie and looking up at her expectantly. “Do this for me. Get some sleep.”  


The dark-haired girl sighed, letting out a wet laugh.  


“That’s not what I meant…”  


“Too bad, because it’s what I’m asking.”  


Ikrie finally gave in, shrugging even as a deep yawn escaped her. Anukai left her to undress herself as she removed her belt and outer portions of her outfit, stripping down to the fabric tunic and leggings beneath it all, once again. Just as she was placing her belt on top of her things, however, the sound of a metallic clinking prompted her to stop, her eyes fixing on one pouch, in particular.  


After several moments of debate, she reached inside and pulled the small, metal device that Aloy had called a Focus free, running her thumb over the softly glowing blue light on it’s surface. Finally, she closed her fist around it as she rose to a standing position, glancing back to find Ikrie lying on the bed, atop the blanket with her arms splayed to either side of her.  


A smirk crossed the redhead’s features as she began to pad toward the opposite side of the room, only for Ikrie’s voice to stop her.  


“Where… where you going?”  


“Just want to get some fresh air on the balcony,” she said. “Not far. Go to sleep.”  


“Okay… just… you need some, too.”  


“I know. Don’t worry about me.”  


“I always do…”  


Anukai paused as she went to turn back to the balcony, glancing back at Ikrie, but the other girl’s eyes had slid closed, her chest rising and falling in a slow, rhythmic pattern. With a thin-lipped expression, Anukai turned back on her way and stepped onto the balcony, turning the Focus over in her fingers several times before sliding it beside her ear.  


Instantly, the web of light appeared around her, but she only spared all of it a passing glance as she leaned forward against the metal railing before her.  


“GAIA?” she said softly.  


A few moments passed before a soft chime sounded in her ear.  


“Anukai, it’s nice to speak with you, again,” the soft, feminine voice said in her ear.  


“I… yeah, I wanted to talk a bit,” she said, staring down at the railing in her hands for a moment. “A lot has… changed… since yesterday… and this morning.”  


“I detect distinct traces of inebriation in your voice.”  


“Of… what?”  


“You have consumed alcohol.”  


“Oh… yeah, I guess I did,” she shrugged.  


“You do not appear overtly affected by it, though,” GAIA mused, “much like Aloy.”  


Anukai’s lips pulled into a thin line as silence fell over the balcony for several long moments.  


“My apologies, I did not mean to compare or imply—”  


“We’re a lot alike, I get it,” Anukai interrupted. “That’s… sort of what I wanted to talk about.”  


“Oh?”  


“Did she… did she know all of this all along?”  


“To what are you referring when you say ‘this’?” GAIA asked.  


“The… ‘re-instantiation’ of Elisabet… _you_ …”  


A brief paused followed before the light-woman replied.  


“No, she did not know of myself or her origins all her life,” she began. “She found out when she was approximately the same age as you are, now.”  


“How… how did she take it?”  


Anukai could have sworn she heard the light-woman sigh in her ear in response.  


“I believe you should ask her of this.”  


The redhead sighed dejectedly, leaning forward against the railing.  


“I apologize,” GAIA continued. “I simply feel it may be best to talk to Aloy about personal aspects of her past, directly.”  


“And she told me to wait until morning,” Anukai grumbled.  


“You do have quite the journey ahead of you. Sleep will certainly benefit you.”  


“I don’t need—”  


The next few words caught in Anukai’s throat beneath a hard lump that had formed, but she quickly found herself grateful that they had stopped, as she swallowed and changed the subject.  


“How far is this mountain you mentioned from here?”  


“Many miles.”  


“How many?”  


“Approximately 1,184 miles.”  


Anukai’s eyes widened as she straightened her posture, once again.  


“That’s… a lot.”  


“Indeed. It is a long journey through a large section of the continent that is currently known as the Forbidden West.”  


“Yeah, you mentioned that earlier,” the redhead nodded. “Why is it forbidden, though?”  


“I have not been able to discern exactly why, other than that it is outside the Carja Sundom, and therefore the Carja do not claim to offer any form of protection or support for those who choose to enter it.”  


“Well, same with the Cut, but they don’t call it ‘forbidden’…”  


“As I said—”  


“I know, I know,” Anukai sighed. “Just… guess there’s a lot to learn.”  


“Indeed. Perhaps once your journey has concluded, you may partake in the courses that Aloy and Talanah have designed, here.”  


Anukai laughed softly.  


“Yeah, maybe…”  


With a sigh, looked back out at the open landscape before her, a yawn quickly building in her.  


“Please get some rest, Anukai.”  


“I will, I will…” she muttered. “You’ll be able to stay in contact with us through these things, right?”  


“Yes, I will,” GAIA replied. “Our connection may be somewhat disrupted at times, depending on your distance from the nearest MINERVA tower, however current estimates place this coverage as rather comprehensive.”  


“So…”  


“While at times it may be difficult, we should always be able to remain in contact.”  


“Good,” Anukai nodded, yawning once again. “Okay, time to call it a night.”  


“Sleep well, Anukai.”  


“Thanks, GAIA.”  


With that, the redhead removed the device from beside her ear as she padded across the room to her belongings, dropping it on top of her possessions before moving around the far side of the bed. Ikrie’s arms were still splayed to either side of her, prompting Anukai to smirk as she gently lifted one to allow her to slide under the blanket beside her.  


Almost immediately, however, the dark-haired girl rolled onto her side to face Anukai, her eyes cracking open.  


“Ikrie…”  


“You woke me up,” she mumbled. “I was asleep.”  


“Well, sorry. Now go back to sleep.”  


“Can you… can I…?”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as Ikrie sighed.  


“Like last night, but… for me.”  


The redhead’s heart began to pound in her ears, once again, but Ikrie simply held one hand out toward her. Anukai carefully took hold of it, only for the dark-haired girl to pull herself closer, eventually making her way beneath the blanket, as well. A moment later, she had entangled her limbs about the redhead, resting her head against her chest.  


Anukai remained still for a few moments before a small smile tugged at her lips as she laid one arm over the dark-haired girl and tilted her head forward slightly so that she could feel Ikrie’s hair tickle her face, slightly.  


With one last, heavy sigh, she closed her eyes and felt herself quickly drift off into a hazy sleep filled with warm colors and feelings.  


The exact opposite of the night before.  


One conversation, in particular, came back to her, as she hovered on the edge of total unconsciousness.  


“ _Tell me everything’s going to be okay._ ”  


“ _You mean… like…?_ ”  


“ _Tomorrow. Tell me everything’s going to be okay tomorrow._ ”  


“ _You’ll be fine, tomorrow._ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not all doom and gloom all the time.
> 
> There's always time for that later.


	9. First Steps of Many

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, y'all.
> 
> So last week Unigamer reminded me of something that I did back with my fics _Duality_ and _Binary_ (and subsequently forgot to do for _Singularity_ ), which was that I created "soundtracks" to go with them, and I thought that since I sort of had a running one created for myself for this fic, I'd share here, if anyone was interested.
> 
> Music, to me, is a very important part of my life, and so it tends to find its way into a lot of the things that I do. Whether that's playing in bands, writing music (like the album stuff I mentioned last chapter), or using it as a means of working and functioning as a human being in everyday society, it's everywhere. Also, if you've been eagle-eyed (and happen to have knowledge of the very same set of music that I listen to) you might notice that references to music pop up all over this fic. Many of them are in the chapter titles ("The Land of the Ice and Snow" being a pretty obvious Led Zeppelin reference, "I've Seen Your Face Before" being a mid-tier Phil Collins reference, and finally "Bloodline" being, in my mind, a straight-up reference to a Northlane song of the same name), however I like to sneak them in through dialogue every now and then, too.
> 
> Anyhoo, I essentially created a list of songs that I feel give me the "feeling" or "vibe" of the particular story, in some way, but aren't necessarily meant to be taken as "this song goes with this scene", at least not all of the time. I will say, however, that the "1979" cover (in addition to being one of my favorite covers from one of my favorite bands) could more or less be the theme to the last chapter, so there's that.
> 
> So, if you want to know kind of how I feel, through music, in regards to approaching this story, feel free to check out the "soundtrack" playlist on Youtube, [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVPK6kbRVHoutjokAijxAqvZA4N9EA8Zd).
> 
> A lot of the music there is also simply the things I've been listening to while writing this, and have probably influenced my writing in some way or another.
> 
> Well that was a lot.
> 
> Anyway, this chapter also kind of deals with a lot. We're getting our quest on, and also learning some more about this timeskip future state.
> 
> Not all of it's happy.
> 
> Fair warning.

All too quickly, though, Anukai found her eyes cracking open, and she begrudgingly lifted her head to look toward the open balcony to the outside. The sky was just beginning to show signs of turning from black to indigo, prompting her to sigh heavily. She turned her attention down to the warm shape before her to find that at some point in the night, Ikrie had rolled onto her other side, her back now pressed firmly against the redhead.  


Anukai debated letting her continue sleeping for a little longer; the dark-haired girl seemed so relaxed, she almost felt guilty trying to wake her up. Finally, she let out another sigh, gently placing one hand on Ikrie’s side and shaking her.  


“Hey…”  


The other girl made a groaning sound, but didn’t otherwise move.  


“Ikrie… it’s time to go.”  


She muttered something incomprehensible in response, prompting a grin from the redhead.  


“Don’t make me…”  


The dark-haired girl began to stir more, groaning once again.  


“No, don’t,” she managed to discern amongst the general grumblings she made.  


Anukai laughed, leaning her chin on Ikrie’s shoulder as the dark-haired girl raised one hand to wipe at her eyes.  


“We don’t want to keep Aloy and Talanah waiting.”  


“I know, I know…”  


As Ikrie stirred more, Anukai leaned away from her, propping herself up on one elbow. The dark-haired girl rolled onto her back, continuing to rub at her eyes forcefully for several moments before letting her hands come to rest on her stomach.  


“Did I… was I crying last night?” she asked.  


“Uh… yeah.”  


Ikrie groaned, once again, folding her arms over her face as Anukai smirked.  


“I’m sorry for whatever I said,” she muttered, “and I didn’t mean it.”  


“Oh, really?” Anukai teased, prompting Ikrie to remove her arms slightly to look over at her. “That’s too bad.”  


“Wait… what did I say?”  


The redhead grinned, but didn’t say anything as she cast her side of the blanket aside and slid from the bed, stretching her arms over her head with a groan.  


“Anukai…”  


The redhead glanced back as she leaned her shoulder against one of the wooden poles at the foot of the bed.  


“Only your deepest secret.”  


The dark-haired girl frowned as she looked down at her.  


“I mean… I don’t think it’s a secret anymore…”  


The redhead raised her eyebrows slightly as Ikrie groaned and covered her face with her hands, once again.  


“I hate you.”  


Anukai laughed as she pushed herself off the post and began to move over to her things. As she crouched down before them, she heard Ikrie groan softly behind her.  


“Still feeling sick?”  


“No,” the other girl replied. “Just… okay, maybe a little.”  


Anukai glanced back at her, concern creasing her face.  


“Do we need to ask Aloy and Talanah to—”  


“No, we’re not telling them,” she interrupted, pulling herself into a sitting position with some amount of struggle before taking a deep breath through her nose. “I’ll live.”  


“If you feel—”  


“I’m feeling better already.”  


Anukai frowned, but didn’t press further as she gathered her things and began to don her outer layers. Once she was fully clothed, she grabbed Ikrie’s things from the pile beside hers and turned back to the bed, tossing them in her direction. The flying pile of clothing prompted the dark-haired girl to raise her arms in defense, a cry of surprise escaping her.  


“Thanks for the warning.”  


“Got to wake up somehow.”  


“I’m already awake!”  


“But you’re still sitting in bed,” Anukai chided, smirking. “We’re going to be late, at this rate.”  


“Well, you go do your thing and I’ll get myself ready, don’t worry,” Ikrie shot back, making a shooing gesture with one hand.  


The redhead turned to the other side of the room, laughing as she made her way toward the wash room she had used the day before. There was no time to fill up the large, metal basin, but she opened the spigot on the smaller one on the wooden bench to her left, cupping her hands under the water before splashing it on her face.  


A shiver ran through her at the frigid temperature, but she pushed herself past it and rubbed forcefully at her face. Any lingering haze from the night before was quickly washed away under the temperature of the water and the forceful motions of her hands. Finally, with a heavy sigh, she stopped the flow of water and leaned forward against the edge of the smaller basin, staring at her reflection in the polished piece of glass before her.  


Her eyes bore telltale bloodshot lines around the edges, but she attributed it to the adventures last night, as her body was charged with too much adrenaline and energy to feel tired.  


“You wanted to know…” she muttered, “and you came all this way… why not go more?”  


With her next blink, the image in the reflection changed. The face was older, the hair shorter, but still red. She recoiled slightly, only having a moment to take in the strange, white fabric clothing and the metal walls in the background of the reflection, before it returned to normal, once again.  


Anukai continued to stare at her reflection, blinking several times, but it didn’t happen again, leaving her to swallow the hard lump that had appeared in her throat and turn away from the glass, stepping back into the main section of the room.  


Ikrie had managed to dress herself and now stood by their possessions, tying her belt in place over her lighter outer tunic. At the sound of Anukai’s footsteps, she glanced up at her.  


“Didn’t take a full bath?”  


The redhead rolled her eyes and intentionally bumped her with her shoulder as she passed, coming to a stop over her equipment. Within another minute or so, both girls were fully dressed and loaded, although Anukai still held her older bow in one hand as she looked down at it with a slight frown.  


“You ready?”  


She glanced up at Ikrie, chewing the inside of her cheek for a moment, before holding the weapon out to her.  


“Here.”  


The dark-haired huntress raised her eyebrows slightly as she glanced down at the bow.  


“I have my new one, and… you never know when it may be helpful,” Anukai said, shaking the weapon slightly. “Take it.”  


Ikrie pondered it for a few more moments before slowly taking it from the redhead, twisting it slightly back and forth in her hand.  


“You’ll have to teach me how to be better with this, then,” she said, glancing over at her with a smirk.  


Anukai grinned, nodding.  


“Sure.”  


With that, Ikrie slung the bow across her torso, as Anukai had done, and they exchanged one last glance before nodding.  


The hallway outside the room was incredibly dark in the early hour of the morning, and there were no signs of other people in either direction.  


“You remember how to get out of here?” Ikrie whispered.  


“No, but…”  


Anukai slipped the Focus from the pouch on her belt and slid it beside her ear.  


“GAIA?” she whispered.  


A moment later, the light-woman’s voice sounded in her ear.  


“Yes, Anukai?”  


“How do we get to the elevators Aloy mentioned?”  


“I will plot your course. One moment.”  


True to her word, a few moments later, a faint, glowing blue line appeared projected in the center of the floor, leading off to their left. Anukai’s eyes widened slightly as she stared down at it, her head tilting to one side.  


“That projected line will lead you straight to your rendezvous.”  


“Our what?”  


“Your meeting site.”  


Anukai nodded before glancing over at Ikrie.  


“Follow me.”  


The redhead led the way down the darkened hallway, following the twists and turns and ups and downs of the projected path until she pushed open a door to reveal the stone dais at the end of the bridge to the city, itself. As she held the door for Ikrie behind her, the sound of shuffling to her left prompted her to jump, whirling toward the noise as one hand instinctually reached for her knife.  


A moment later, she locked eyes with an equally surprised-looking Carja guard, his lance loosely held before him. They both remained still for several long moments before Anukai nodded slowly, pulling her hand away from her knife, the guard returning the gesture as he pushed himself away from the wall slightly, stretching and rolling his shoulders.  


The redhead sighed, glancing back at Ikrie to find the other huntress regarding her with a smirk.  


“Easy, now.”  


Anukai rolled her eyes but nodded toward the bridge, turning to continue along the projected path GAIA had laid for them. The city streets were equally as empty as they moved through them, with only a few lazily patrolling Carja guards passing them by every now and then. As they stepped from a large archway formed by the base of an overhead walkway, the huntresses found themselves staring out at the first hints of the sunrise over the tops of trees that filled the ground below the mesa all the way to a distant mountain range.  


They both came to a stop, staring out at the landscape before them for several moments before exchanging glances, both of them wearing somewhat tight-lipped expressions as they inhaled deeply and nodded.  


A whistling sound from their right prompted both girls to glance over to find two figures standing before massive steel-and-wood towers that seemed to be affixed to the side of the mesa, itself. One of them was waving toward them, and Anukai could just make out the splash of red hair amongst the darkness of the shadow cast by the tower they stood under.  


The girls made their way along the walkway at the edge of the mesa until they approached the towering structures, both of them glancing up at them until they finally came to a stop before the two figures waiting for them. Anukai noted that for the first time since they had met her, Aloy actually showed any semblance of her Nora background, her leather and fur tunic and skirt adorned with bright reds and blues nearly identical to the clothing she had seen the other members of the tribe wearing during their visit. Aloy’s clothing, however, also seemed to be blended with elements that were distinctly not from animals or other aspects of nature, at least not that she could identify. The sides of her tunic appeared to be sewn with some kind of grey material that appeared somewhat shiny and smooth to the touch, despite being made of what appeared to be woven fabric, and her leggings appeared to be made from a similar type of material, rather than leather.  


Anukai also noticed that while her hair had been left loose around her shoulders for most of the time they had seen her, it was now tied into several smaller braids, with one section seemingly left loose on the bottom that covered the back of her neck. The younger redhead noted that each braid was bound with ties and beads that all seemed to be teal, red, or yellow, as well.  


“Good morning,” the older redhead said, smirking. “I see you both made it just fine.”  


“I said we would,” Anukai replied, shrugging.  


“And so you did.”  


Aloy nodded as she exchanged a quick glance with Talanah beside her, the dark-haired woman frowning slightly as she turned to Ikrie.  


“Hey, I’m sorry about last night…” she said.  


“It’s fine,” the dark-haired girl said, shaking her head. “I’m fine.”  


The Carja woman frowned slightly, but nodded. Anukai noted that she had seemingly opted for clothing similar to Aloy’s, in that it was all primarily subdued, earthy tones with a few splashes of color hidden about it. Her tunic did not bare her arms, as Aloy’s did, but instead featured sleeves that came to just below her elbows that seemed to be made of a similar woven fabric as parts of Aloy’s clothing; notably, it also did not bare her midriff, as her previous choices had, but was instead tucked under a dark red and blue belt made out of something like Carja silk. Her leggings were made of a similar material as her tunic, however they were a dark, almost crimson color, with the seams along the sides seemingly sewn with a single line of bright, sky blue stitching.  


Both women, notably, were also wearing what appeared to be brown cloaks around their shoulders.  


“Oh, I brought you two presents,” Aloy said, pulling something from her side, where the item had been held in place by the end of the bowstring across her torso.  


The older redhead held out a bundle of brown fabric, which Anukai hesitated before taking from her. As she pulled the two pieces apart, she realized that they were cloaks, like the ones they were wearing.  


“If we’re going into the deserts to the west,” Aloy explained as Anukai handed one to Ikrie, “you’re going to want protection from the sun.”  


“Isn’t the desert incredibly hot?” Anukai asked, frowning slightly as she held the cloak before her.  


“Yes, but trust me, with our complexion, you’ll be thankful you have this so your skin doesn’t burn.”  


The younger redhead raised her eyebrows slightly as she looked up at Aloy.  


“ _Our_?”  


“Well… yeah,” Aloy nodded. “Trust me, I know from experience.”  


Talanah nodded in agreement.  


“It wasn’t pretty.”  


The older redhead rolled her eyes and shoved her playfully as the Carja woman smirked.  


“You can just hold onto them for now, if you want, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”  


Anukai sighed before pulling the cloak over her shoulders, tying the clasp in place below her throat as Ikrie did the same. Aloy nodded before clapping her hands together before her.  


“So… shall we?”  


All four women remained silent for several long moments before Anukai broke it with a heavy sigh.  


“Well, we’re not going to solve anything just standing here, so let’s go.”  


Aloy nodded in response, grinning, before turning back to the structure behind her and pulling a lever to her left. The metal grating on the front of the tower slid aside, revealing what seemed to be a small, empty room inside, complete with metal grating for the floor. The older redhead stepped into the room before glancing back at the younger girls and beckoning them on with a wave.  


“You’ll be fine. Come on.”  


They tentatively stepped into the room before Aloy pulled another lever on the wall beside her, prompting the metal grating to slide closed behind them. Suddenly, the floor lurched and began to sink, prompting the younger girls to stagger and glance about wildly for a moment.  


“I said you’ll be fine,” Aloy laughed.  


“Okay, but you didn’t say the floor was going to start moving,” Ikrie grumbled.  


“That’s how elevators work,” the older redhead shrugged. “Sorry.”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged glances, but tried to relax their stances as they continued to descend toward the lower ground below.  


“So… why so early?” Anukai asked, turning back to Aloy. “I know you told the King first thing today, but… well, most people would leave after sunrise.”  


“Well…” the older redhead sighed, glancing toward Talanah for a moment, “that’s why.”  


“What is?”  


“Because we told Avad we were leaving today.”  


A frown settled on Anukai’s features as she folded her arms over her chest.  


“You work for him,” she said, “so why are you suddenly trying to keep everything secret from him?”  


“Like we said before,” Talanah sighed, “we don’t need him to begin panicking over something that we don’t even know is a real threat, yet.”  


“But… you clearly think it is.”  


Aloy’s jaw worked tensely as she mimicked Anukai’s posture, folding her arms tightly over her chest.  


“I know that this rogue signal has been something bad, before, but that’s it,” she began. “GAIA’s fine, now, but she wasn’t last time, so that’s a plus, too.”  


“So… this signal did something bad, and damaged GAIA before… and you’re saying it’s not a threat?” Anukai shot back, raising her eyebrows.  


“I didn’t…” Aloy began, her tone heated, before she paused, taking a deep breath through her nose. “I don’t know what it is. That’s why we’re doing this, right now.”  


“But you don’t want the king to know.”  


“No.”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged glances.  


“He’s… he’s a good man, and means the best,” Aloy sighed, “but…”  


Just then, the elevator came to a stop as they seemingly reached the bottom, the metal grating automatically sliding open, once again. As it did, however, it revealed two figures standing before it, prompting all four women to freeze and grow tense.  


“But what, Little Huntress?”  


Vanasha smirked as she glanced around the group inside the elevator.  


“It was a good idea, leaving before dawn, but it just so happens that a friend of mine frequents a particular hideaway and overhead a conversation between a group of lively girls who stopped by last night…”  


Aloy let out a frustrated sigh as Vanasha turned her attention back to her.  


“You knew Avad would send me.”  


“I knew he’d try.”  


“And we both know that I would insert myself into your travelling party,” she continued, “but… you know that my trust is hard to come by.”  


The older redhead raised her eyebrows slightly as she folded her arms over her chest, once again.  


“Oh?”  


“Mhm,” Vanasha hummed, grinning, “and luckily for you… you have mine.”  


“So…”  


“So that means I may have not heard the information from said friend at said hideaway in time to do anything about it, and four crafty huntresses slipped out of the city before I could say goodbye.”  


Aloy and Talanah exchanged glances as the strange woman in the dark purple clothing laughed.  


“I just wanted to actually say goodbye, you know,” she continued. “Telling Avad or not, it’s still rude to not tell me.”  


Aloy and Talanah laughed softly, but the redhead’s gaze travelled to the other figure behind Vanasha.  


“So, why did he come?”  


They all turned their attention to the young man that had first led Anukai and Ikrie to Aloy upon arriving at the palace.  


“I think he had something he wanted to say,” Vanasha said, stepping aside and gesturing for the young man to step closer.  


He swallowed nervously, stepping beside the mysterious woman and meeting Aloy’s gaze.  


“I… I heard about… yesterday,” he began, “with… with my father.”  


Anukai’s eyebrows raised slightly as she looked the man over more closely, starting to connect the similarities in his face, his eyes, the way he held himself…  


“I… I wanted to say… I apologize for… for that, and… I wish you luck on your journey.”  


Aloy’s lips pulled into a thin line before she sighed, nodding.  


“Thank you, Bekan,” she began. “I… I hope one day Erend and I can reconcile… but I don’t hold his actions against you… and while I don’t fully understand his line of thinking… I don’t entirely hold them against him, either.”  


With that, she stepped forward, holding one hand out toward the young man. He quickly straightened his posture before also holding his hand toward her, both of them grasping the others tightly for a moment before nodding and releasing each other.  


“Think of it this way, though,” Aloy continued, grinning, “you can have a slight vacation from having to be concerned about me for a little while.”  


The young man laughed, shaking his head.  


“I’ll find something to fill my time with, instead.”  


“Good.”  


With that, Aloy turned back to Vanasha, who simply nodded, grinning.  


“Best get a move on, Little Huntress,” she said, “or you’ll ruin your entire purpose of leaving early.”  


The older redhead rolled her eyes before turning back to the other three.  


“Well, you heard her.”  


With that, Aloy began to lead the way out of the elevator, although as Anukai and Ikrie went to pass, Vanasha stepped before them, prompting both girls to jump in surprise.  


“Now, I do have a task for you, Little Flame-Hair and Freckles,” she said, smirking.  


“O-oh?” Anukai replied, trying to keep her heart beat under control as she felt a cold shiver run down her spine.  


“Mhm,” she said, nodding, “and it’s very important: make sure my friends come back alive. Okay?”  


Both girls exchanged glances before nodding, prompting Vanasha to grin.  


“Good. May the Sun light your paths, huntresses.”  


With that, she moved aside, allowing them to catch up to Aloy and Talanah, who had paused to wait for them several yards ahead. As they approached, they continued walking, once again, leading the way along a dirt path through a small village that was just beginning to show signs of life.  


“Don’t mind her,” Talanah said, leaning toward the younger girls. “She let us leave without much trouble, so she may not even tail us.”  


“What?” Ikrie said, confusion creasing her face.  


“She’ll tell Avad, I’m sure,” Talanah sighed, “but we may have luck that she won’t send someone to follow us, or follow herself.”  


“Why would she do that?”  


“Because she works for Avad, too, but… well, that’s kind of what she does for him,” the Carja woman shrugged.  


“So… is she…?”  


“She’s an ally,” Aloy interjected, “just… one you have to keep an eye on.”  


Anukai frowned slightly, but didn’t press any further. The rest of their walk through the village at the base of the mesa passed in near silence until they reached a path running alongside fields of tall plants that all seemed to be growing in neat rows. As the younger redhead glanced up at the sky, confusion creased her face.  


“I thought we needed to go west?”  


“We do.”  


“So why are we going south?”  


“It’s… part of the whole ‘not telling Avad’ and ‘be wary of Vanasha’ thing,” Aloy sighed.  


Anukai glanced over at Ikrie, both of them easily conveying their unease in a single look.  


“I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense right now, but… trust me… please,” Aloy said quietly, glancing over at them.  


The younger redhead nodded, but her expression didn’t convey that she was convinced. With a sigh, Aloy rubbed at her eyes tiredly.  


“You had something you wanted to ask me last night,” she continued, changing the topic as she glanced back at Anukai. “What was it?”  


“Oh…” the younger redhead said, swallowing. “Uh… well…”  


She glanced nervously toward the two dark-haired huntresses beside them before Talanah quickly turned to Ikrie and struck up a conversation, drawing her attention away.  


“I wanted to know… how did you react to… everything I’ve found out in the past two days?” she asked softly, stepping slightly closer to Aloy.  


The older redhead nodded, letting out a soft “oh” before clearing her throat.  


“I… uh… it was a lot, for me, too,” she said. “I didn’t take it much better than you did, at first, except… well…”  


Aloy sighed, rubbing at one upper arm absentmindedly as she stared vacantly ahead of her for a moment.  


“I guess I… I was looking for a… a sense of purpose… of meaning…”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face.  


“What do you mean?”  


The older redhead sighed, letting her arm fall by her side, once again.  


“I told you I was an outcast,” she began. “The Nora cast me out at birth… after they found me… like you were found.”  


Anukai’s eyes widened slightly as she swallowed the hard lump that had appeared in her throat.  


“They called me ‘motherless’ and in Nora culture… it was considered an ultimate sign that I was a curse.”  


“A curse?” the younger redhead blurted, before quickly clearing her throat and glancing at the ground before her under Aloy’s glance.  


“Yeah, they… they said a lot of things about me—none of them particularly nice—and it only made me desperate to know where I came from… _who_ I came from. Well, I did, through the door in All Mother Mountain, the one you found Elisabet behind. When it opened for me… I was suddenly no longer ‘Motherless Curse’ but the Nora’s ‘Anointed.’”  


Anukai’s lips drew into a thin line as she looked back up at the older redhead.  


“I still don’t understand how you were willing to save them after all of that,” she said softly. “Everything you’ve told me… would just make me want to watch them burn, I think.”  


“That would have been easy, true,” Aloy nodded, “but in the end… what would that have accomplished?”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she turned back to the older redhead.  


“What do you mean?”  


“Letting a whole tribe of people die,” Aloy repeated, “what would that accomplish?”  


“Nothing…”  


“Exactly,” she nodded. “There would just be an empty hole in the world where all of those people used to be. I… that would be far worse than any hatred they showed me.”  


The younger redhead nodded, hanging her head slightly as a tight feeling appeared in her chest. A moment later, something touched her shoulder and she jumped, glancing up to find it was Aloy’s hand.  


“It took me a long time to understand any of this,” she said, “and to know exactly how to rationalize and understand how to process an emotional response. You’ve seen—I clearly don’t always do it, even now.”  


Anukai nodded, still unable to meet her gaze for more than a few moments. Eventually, Aloy’s hand fell away from her shoulder and they continued in silence, although Ikrie and Talanah seemed to still be conversing animatedly, both of them laughing while the younger redhead noted how Ikrie was even gesturing excitedly while talking, bringing a small smile to Anukai’s lips.  


After a few moments, Talanah seemed to notice the other two looking in their direction and she cleared her throat.  


“Sorry, you two looked like you needed a moment,” she said, prompting Ikrie to glance over, as well.  


“It’s fine,” Aloy laughed. “You two are getting along well, I see.”  


“She’s got some stories,” Talanah said, nodding toward Ikrie.  


“Oh, does she?” Anukai interjected, raising her eyebrows.  


“You were there for most of them,” Ikrie scoffed, waving dismissively.  


“Most?”  


“You haven’t been there for every second of my life, you know.”  


Anukai rolled her ryes but continued to grin as Talanah asked her about whatever story they had clearly been in the middle of, prompting Ikrie to launch back into it. The younger redhead was only half-listening as she instead looked out over the fields of plants that stretched to their left, away from the separate, slightly smaller mesa that they had been navigating around. She noted what appeared to be several large machines that stood in the center of the fields, prompting her to tilt her head to one side slightly.  


“Those were built by people,” Aloy said, leaning in toward her as she grinned. “They’re not wild.”  


“What do they do?”  


“Help with farming,” she said. “Some help with seeding, some with harvesting, and some with irrigation.”  


“More things learned from these classes of yours I keep hearing about?”  


“Inspired by, at least,” Aloy shrugged. “A lot of them were designed by—a good friend.”  


Anukai’s eyebrows raised, once again.  


“More personal history?”  


Aloy sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly.  


“Yes, but… not like Erend,” she said. “I…”  


Anukai noted how the older redhead’s eyes had started to turn red as she glanced away, wiping the back of one hand across them. The younger redhead nodded, swallowing thickly before clearing her throat.  


“Sorry, forget I asked.”  


“No, no… it’s… it’s been a while,” Aloy sighed, finally turning back to Anukai. “I just… something I don’t think I’ll ever really get over, you know?”  


Anukai nodded slowly.  


“Sorry, I don’t mean to be so vague,” Aloy continued. “A lot of them were designed, or are based off of designs, by an old friend, Petra Forgewoman.”  


The younger redhead nodded, once again, glancing back out at the machines.  


“Impressive that one person can design things so complex.”  


“She was…”  


Anukai glanced back over at the older redhead as she sighed.  


“How long has it been?” she asked softly.  


“Ten years,” Aloy replied.  


“I’m sorry,” Anukai replied. “Her song continues in what she built, though.”  


“Her song?”  


Anukai nodded.  


“The Banuk believe that everyone’s life is represented by a song, one that you create and sing yourself. When you pass on… others may sing of it and so it continues, resonating amongst the ice. While it may be echoes… it’s never truly gone.”  


Aloy nodded slowly, a small smile tugging at her lips.  


“I like that.”  


Anukai offered a smile in return as silence fell over them for several long moments, allowing the younger redhead to realize that Talanah and Ikrie had fallen silent beside them. As she glanced over, she found both of them regarding the redheads with somewhat sad smiles, Talanah’s eyes also showing signs of redness, as Aloy’s did.  


“Well, this has been quite the start to our journey,” the older redhead sighed, drawing Anukai’s attention back to her as quiet laughter spread throughout them.  


“I’ll try to keep my questions to a minimum, then,” she said, smirking.  


“Oh, don’t… don’t worry about it,” Aloy said, shaking her head. “It was all bound to come up eventually.”  


Not long after, they found themselves leaving the fields of tall plants and machines behind and instead approaching the thick, forested realm that Anukai and Ikrie had seen from the top of the mesa. Just before they could enter, however, Aloy turned them to the right, angling the group toward a small, wooden building with a separate construction that appeared to only have a roof, but no outer walls.  


“Another friend?” Anukai muttered to Ikrie, who simply shrugged.  


When they approached, Aloy knocked on the front door before taking a step back, tapping her fingers on the side of her leg impatiently. After several long moments of silence with no obvious reaction, she frowned and tried again. After nothing had happened, still, she glanced back at Talanah.  


“It _is_ early,” the Carja woman said, shrugging.  


Just then, the sound of a loud whistle echoed in the distance and all four women glanced around, confusion creasing their faces. Eventually, Anukai’s gaze settled on the shape of a figure approaching from across the open ground on the other side of the trail they had been following. The younger redhead tapped Aloy on the shoulder and pointed, prompting her to grin.  


“I was beginning to worry!” she called, shaking her head.  


The approaching figure laughed loudly enough to be heard from even yards away, a deep, bellowing sound that only seemed appropriate for the man it was coming from. As he approached the group, Anukai eyed him up and down, noting the distinct difference in clothing from most of the people she had seen since arriving in Meridian. It was hard to pin down exactly what tribe he was likely from by the mixture of clothing, including a leather apron that seemed very Oseram in its design, a white tunic made of Carja silk, and leather leggings and boots that seemed much more like clothing she had seen in Nora lands. Despite sporting a large beard that covered the bottom half of his face, it seemed much more well-kept than she would have expected.  


“I would say I’m more surprised to see either of you down here so early,” he said, his voice deep, but surprisingly without a hint of raspiness that Anukai had found herself expecting.  


“Well, it’s a special occasion,” Aloy shrugged.  


“Oh… is it now?” he replied, glancing between the older women. “And to what do we owe the honors?”  


“A… special trip,” Talanah replied.  


The man raised one eyebrow at her.  


“Sounds like some secret, King’s Court business.”  


“Actually, the opposite.”  


The man paused, folding his arms over his chest.  


“What kind of criminal behavior are you asking me to assist in, then?”  


Despite his tone, the glint in his eye betrayed his joking nature.  


“Nothing criminal, just… something the Sun King doesn’t need to be completely in the know about,” Aloy shrugged.  


The man nodded slowly, stroking the side of his beard for a moment before nodding.  


“So I take it you’re looking for mounts.”  


“Indeed.”  


“Well, I’ll give you the special discounted rate of tell me where you’re going and why.”  


Aloy sighed, bracing her hands on her hips as the man laughed.  


“I’m kidding,” he said. “You’ll be safe, right?”  


“You know I can’t guarantee that.”  


“And you know I have to ask.”  


The three older members of the group laughed, leaving Anukai and Ikrie to glance to each other in confusion. A few moments later, the bearded man happened to notice the younger girls and raised one eyebrow, again.  


“My apologies, I didn’t notice your young compatriots,” he said. “Although I now have another question…”  


“No, I didn’t forget to tell you about her,” Aloy sighed, “she… showed up two days ago.”  


“Oh?”  


The older redhead glanced to Anukai who started when she realized that Aloy wasn’t going to say anything else.  


“I-I’m Anukai,” she said quickly.  


“Well, nice to meet you,” the man nodded. “I’m Jakan. I take it you have met similar reactions upon arriving in Meridian?”  


Anukai nodded, sighing.  


“My apologies, then,” he said, “but Aloy, here, is quite the known face, and when yours is so much like it…”  


Aloy rolled her eyes as he laughed.  


“I suppose there are worse individuals to be mistaken for, though.”  


“Okay, that’s enough,” Aloy sighed. “We do need to be on our way, unfortunately.”  


“I understand,” Jakan said, grinning. “However there’s one more individual here. I don’t want to seem rude, so may I ask your name?”  


He gestured to Ikrie, who started in surprise, clearing her throat.  


“Ikrie.”  


The man repeated it, nodding.  


“Well, Anukai and Ikrie, I do not know what your journey will bring you, or where, but I know that if you travel with these two…” he gestured to Aloy and Talanah, “you travel in good hands.”  


Talanah’s face reddened as Aloy rolled her eyes, yet again.  


“Jakan…”  


“Don’t worry, I have mounts at the ready. Follow me.”  


With that, the man turned and began to lead the way around the side of the house beside them. As they rounded the corner, Anukai’s eyes widened at the sight of a pack of Striders grazing in the open field behind it. They appeared to be contained within a simple, wooden fence that marked off a rectangular patch of grass, however the machines didn’t seem to mind, attempt to knock it down, or run away. Even as they approached, one of the Striders lifted its head to look toward them, however it simply went back to grazing moments later, nonplussed.  


“They’re so… docile…” Ikrie commented.  


“That they are,” Jakan replied, glancing back at her. “Makes ‘em good mounts.”  


“You said that, but… what does it mean?”  


“First time in the Sundom, huh?” he said, grinning.  


Ikrie shrugged, folding her arms over her chest.  


“Thanks to whatever mechanical magic Aloy, here, has managed to work, some machines are docile enough to not only be around people, but also help with labor,” he explained, coming ot a stop and resting one hand on the wooden fence before him. “Mounts are machines specifically used for riding.”  


“Wait… _riding_?!” Anukai interjected, glancing between the older members of the group.  


“Sure beats walking,” Aloy shrugged, grinning.  


The young huntresses exchanged wary glances, but remained silent as Jakan stepped over to a portion of the fence that appeared to be slightly separated from the rest, lifting a heavy wooden latch from where it was staked in the ground and beginning to pull the section open, like a door.  


“For a special occasion, I’ve got four of my best men in mind,” he said, stepping through the opening and quickly pointing out four different striders, each marked with a different painted symbol on their flanks. “Take your pick of who gets which one.”  


Aloy and Talanah made their way over to two Striders, patting them on the necks before moving alongside them and climbing atop some kind of leather fixture secured to their backs, using the wires extending from the back of their heads to help maneuver themselves, as well as hold them in place once they were atop the machines. The younger huntresses exchanged glances before approaching the remaining two Striders.  


Anukai tentatively reached toward the side of the machine’s neck, as Aloy had done. When her hand came into contact with the somewhat cold metal of its outer armor, the machine lifted its head, prompting her to quickly retract her arm, holding her breath as it turned its head to look over at her. She locked eyes with the glowing, blue one of the machine for several long moments, but eventually it simply shook its neck and went back to grazing, once again.  


“Okay…” she breathed, clenching her hands into fists before relaxing them several times before reaching toward the wires, as the older women had done, as well.  


Once she gripped them, she carefully placed one foot in a loop that hung from the side of the leather fixture on the machine’s back. She bounced once or twice on the other foot before pulling hard on the wires, dragging herself up and over the side of the machine. With a grunt of exertion, she managed to swing her leg over its back, placing her foot in a similar loop on the opposite side but still remained more or less lying atop it for a moment or two longer. Finally, she summoned the courage to push herself into a sitting position, still keeping a deathgrip on the wires as she settled into the leather seat and got a sense for balancing atop the machine.  


Once she was more or less certain she wouldn’t fall off, she looked up at the others to find Aloy and Talanah had led their Striders to the gate they had entered through, pausing to glance back at the younger girls, grins on their faces. Anukai glanced over at Ikrie to find her also just settling into her seat, her hands tightly grasping the machine’s wires, as well. Their eyes met for a moment before they both nodded and turned back to the others, only to find Jakan had approached them, a broad grin on his face.  


“Nicely done,” he said. “Now, the trick is to get moving.”  


“Yeah… how do you do that?”  


“You’ll want to gently goad them with your feet,” he said. “Pressing into their sides will start them forward. The more aggressively, and sharply, you do it will determine if they take off at a gallop or a canter.”  


“A what or a what?”  


“Think of it like a sprint or a walk,” he said, laughing. “The more aggressive you are, the faster they’ll go; the more gentle, the slower or more gradual.”  


“Okay… how do you make them stop?”  


“Pull back on the wires, there,” he said, nodding toward them. “Same logic applies. Also, to turn, you can sort of pull them one way or the other, as well as lean into it slightly with your body.”  


Anukai heaved a heavy, nervous sigh as she shifted the wires in her hands for a moment. Finally, she gently pressed her heels against the machine’s sides. A moment later, it lurched forward, prompting her to start and nearly lose her grip on the wires until the last second, when her grip returned in full force.  


As she regained her bearings, she quickly realized that she was still moving, the machine leisurely walking straight ahead. Swallowing nervously, she tugged the wires to the left slightly, which prompted the machine to follow the motion and adjust its path. Eventually, she was able to guide it to the two older women and bring it to a stop just behind them. A laugh escaped her as she glanced up at them.  


“Getting the hang of it already,” Talanah commented, smirking.  


“I… never thought I’d be riding a machine,” she commented.  


“Well, neither did anyone else until Aloy, here, showed up,” the Carja woman said, glancing over at her.  


“And I never thought it would be this easy to have herds of machines docile and not trying to kick your head off your shoulders until we got GAIA reintegrated with MINERVA,” the older redhead replied.  


“With what?”  


“We’ll explain on the go,” Aloy said, glancing over toward Ikrie to find her also finally approaching the group. “You both ready?”  


The girls nodded, prompting Aloy to grin, once again, as she turned back to Jakan, who had come to a stop against the fence beside the gate.  


“Thanks, once again,” she said.  


“Any time,” he nodded. “I owe the two of you my livelihood, now, so whenever I can repay you, I try.”  


The older redhead’s face flushed as she cleared her throat, nodding.  


“Sure thing.”  


Jakan laughed, waving dismissively to her.  


“Get on your way. You have important things to do and I’m only distracting you.”  


The older women offered one last goodbye before easing their Striders out of the enclosure, finally, and toward the worn path they had been following on foot moments ago. They settled into a two-by-two configuration as they reached the entrance to the trees, the open ground quickly constricting to a narrow pathway.  


Almost immediately, the light of the sunrise was dampened by the thick canopy overhead, while the air seemed to hang thicker, somehow.  


“Welcome to the Jewel,” Aloy called over her shoulder.  


“How is it suddenly like a different world just inside these trees?” Anukai asked.  


“It’s essentially an entirely different biome in here.”  


“A what?”  


“A… region of plants and animals, with its own climate, essentially,” the older redhead said.  


“But… how is it so close to the desert and Meridian, when neither of them are like this?”  


“That… you’d probably have to ask GAIA,” Aloy replied, laughing.  


“GAIA? Why?”  


“She was the one who remade all of this, remember?”  


Anukai nodded, only for a quiet chime to appear in her ear a moment later.  


“Without going into incredible detail,” GAIA’s voice said, her tone hinting at a smile even if her image was not visible, “remaking the planet’s biosphere is a difficult and intricate process.”  


“That sounds like an excuse, GAIA,” Aloy teased, grinning.  


“I can go into more detail, if you require it.”  


“I don’t think we have that much time,” Talanah chimed in, laughing.  


Anukai smirked as she glanced over at Ikrie to find her looking around at all of them with an expression of incredible confusion.  


“You sure you don’t want the other one of these?” Anukai asked her, gesturing to the Focus beside her ear.  


Ikrie’s lips drew into a thin line as she shook her head. The younger redhead’s face fell slightly but she nodded, turning her attention back to the group.  


“So, how far south are we going to try to trick your allies?” she called to the women ahead of them.  


“We’ll go this way for a few miles before swinging west,” Aloy replied. “Eventually we’ll meet up with a large river.”  


“And then?”  


“We’ll cross it, hopefully.”  


“With the Striders?”  


“You’ll see.”  


True to her word, after travelling for what felt like an hour or so, Aloy adjusted their path, following a branching trail around the edge of a large pond. Anukai eyed the signs of large machines just below its surface warily, but they seemed to pay her no mind.  


“You ever seen a Snapmaw?”  


She glanced forward toward Talanah before shaking her head.  


“Don’t get on one’s bad side,” the Carja woman said. “Jaws could tear a Strider in half easily.”  


The younger redhead glanced back toward the tops of the machines visible in the lake, once again, swallowing nervously as she gripped the wires of her Strider tighter.  


“Don’t worry about these ones, though,” Talanah continued. “GAIA can override them to keep them docile.”  


“That’s… useful.”  


“Indeed,” GAIA chimed in her ear. “My ability to do so, however, is reduced the further you move from one of the MINERVA towers.”  


“And where are those?” Anukai asked.  


“You passed the closest one on your way out of Meridian,” she explained. “It sits atop what the Carja call the Alight, the mesa across from Meridian, but not a part of it.”  


The younger redhead nodded, realizing that she hadn’t noticed anything in particular about the formation she had described, other than that they had passed it just before reaching the house where they had obtained the Striders.  


The travelling party settled into a relaxed silence as they made their way through the Jewel, Anukai quickly finding herself wiping the sweat from her brow every few minutes as she debated whether to remove the cloak Aloy had given her earlier. She also found herself quickly losing track of the time of day, as the canopy overhead was thick enough that it obscured the view of the sun’s passage overhead almost entirely.  


It had either been an hour, or four, but there was no way to know, that she could discern.  


Suddenly, she noted that the landscape ahead of them appeared to be growing brighter, and she craned her neck slightly to try to see why. Nothing incredibly notable had changed, however she did note that the gaps between the trees were beginning to grow wider. A few minutes later, the world around her seemed to open up, once again, as their Striders stepped from the narrow, humid path into a wide open space with no tree cover overhead.  


She glanced around the open ground for a moment or two, taking in the descent to a large body of water before them, as well as the steep, red cliffs on the opposite side. With a glance toward the sky, as well, she noted that the sun appeared almost directly overhead, confirming that the morning had almost entirely passed during their time in the vegetation of the Jewel.  


“This the river you mentioned?” Ikrie asked, also glancing around at the change of scenery.  


“Indeed, it is,” Aloy replied. “We can take a break at the edge, if anyone needs it.”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged glances before shrugging.  


“I’m feeling fine, still.”  


“Well, then maybe _I_ need it,” the older redhead sighed. “Follow me.”  


With a smirk, Anukai guided her Strider after the other redhead, quickly descending the incline until they reached the water’s edge, where Aloy brought her mount to a halt and swung her leg over its back. The other women dismounted, as well, although Anukai and Ikrie did so a little less gracefully than Aloy or Talanah. Once they all stood on the loose sand of the riverside beach, Anukai found herself stretching her arms and shoulders, the tension she hadn’t even noticed in them slowly beginning to abate.  


“So, is this still part of Carja territory?” she asked, approaching Aloy and Talanah, who were similarly stretching.  


“Yes,” Aloy sighed, “bordering on what used to be Shadow Carja territory, actually.”  


“Shadow Carja?”  


“A splinter group,” Talanah explained, “formed after the fall of Avad’s father. They didn’t like the change, so they made their own tribe, essentially.”  


Anukai shook her head.  


“The more you tell me about—anything—the less I feel like I know.”  


“But you’re learning,” Aloy shot back, “which is good.”  


The younger redhead shrugged, letting out a heavy sigh.  


“Sure.”  


After a few moments longer and some dried meat and nuts of some kind provided by Aloy, they collectively decided it was time to begin moving, once again. Anukai glanced out over the water before them, frowning slightly as she did.  


“Are we just going to… wade them across?” she asked, gesturing to the Striders.  


“Ideally, no,” Aloy said, nodding further in the direction against the current. “There should be a barge that runs across at Brightmarket.”  


“You sure Brightmarket’s a good idea?” Talanah asked, frowning slightly. “If our goal was not to be followed…”  


“Do you want to try to get Striders across the river without that boat?” the redhead shot back, raising her eyebrows.  


Talanah simply sighed and shook her head before climbing back onto her Strider.  


“We’ll be passing through quickly,” Aloy added, climbing atop her own mount. “In and out. We can make up time and distance on the other side.”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged dubious glances as they climbed atop their mounts, but otherwise remained silent as they fell in behind the older women. The trip along the riverfront was made more pleasant than the one through the Jewel by the breeze that blew off the water, although Anukai hadn’t decided if the unrelenting sun was worse than the humidity under the thick canopy.  


The journey along the river was much shorter than their morning trek through the Jewel, with the signs of large, stone structures in the distance quickly coming into view as they rounded the third or fourth bend in the river’s path. Even from a distance, it was evident how busy the settlement was, and Anukai began to feel the hair on the back of her neck raise. She quickly took a deep breath, trying to push aside the thoughts brought on by Aloy’s and Talanah’s insistence on avoiding Avad and Vanasha earlier.  


“Brightmarket is… well, like it sounds,” Aloy said, glancing back at the younger huntresses. “It’s a busy Carja market and… well, just stick close.”  


Within minutes, they were approaching another group of Carja guards with lances held loosely beside them. Upon spotting Aloy and Talanah, however, they straightened up, holding their weapons at attention.  


“Ma’ams,” one said as they passed, the older women offering nods as they dismounted from their Striders.  


Anukai and Ikrie followed suit, sliding from their seats atop the machines and beginning to guide them by the wires from the backs of their heads. The younger huntresses glanced around at the flurry of activity that quickly surrounded them as they entered Brightmarket, the speed at which everyone moved seemingly even greater than in Meridian. As they rounded a corner in the paved street they were following, a group of children suddenly approached them, pointing and muttering amongst themselves.  


Anukai continued past them, but paused as she heard Ikrie’s voice from behind her.  


“Have you seen a Strider?”  


The dark-haired huntress had come to a stop before the children, a smile tugging at her lips.  


“Not close,” a young girl at the front of the group said, shaking her head.  


“This one’s been friendly to me so far,” Ikrie replied, gently patting the side of its neck. “Do you want to touch it?”  


The children murmured excitedly as Anukai found a grin tugging at her lips, as well. The girl at the front tentatively stepped forward, holding her hand out toward the Strider’s front flank. As soon as she laid her hand on it, she quickly jumped backward, giggling. The other children followed suit, each of them taking a turn to touch the machine before scampering back a few steps.  


“Is it yours?” one of them asked Ikrie.  


“No, I’m just borrowing it,” she replied, shaking her head.  


“You can borrow a machine?”  


“Well… I guess so.”  


The children laughed before the sound of a woman’s voice calling to them, seemingly disapprovingly, prompted them to mutter goodbyes before rushing off, once again. Ikrie watched them go with a grin before turning to continue after Anukai. As she approached, the redhead raised her eyebrows slightly.  


“Making friends?” she teased.  


“They’re children, Anukai,” Ikrie sighed. “They’re curious.”  


“I know,” she shrugged. “I… well, you know me.”  


Ikrie looked as if she wanted to say something, but eventually just sighed, offering Anukai a sad smile. The redhead’s face contorted in confusion, however only for a moment before the sound of someone calling her name prompted her head to whip around toward them. Aloy and Talanah were waving for the girls to catch up from farther along the street they had been following, prompting the redhead to sigh and tug the Strider after them, once again.  


The path only grew narrower as they passed through what appeared to be the heart of the settlement, every inch aroud them packed with merchant stalls, people, or other machines being led by said merchants or customers. Anukai counted at least four times she had to duck or dodge out of the way of another Strider to avoid suffering a hard blow from the machines led on by impatient merchants. Just as she began to wonder if there was actually a destination in mind, Talanah signaled for her to come to a stop from just ahead of her.  


Anukai brought her Strider to a standstill as she glanced up at the large, stone construction that loomed over them. It almost seemed like the bottom half of a bridge, however she noted that while the side to her right connected with the side of a cliff face, the side to the left seemed to stick out into the river before coming to a stop in empty air. Questions burned at the back of the redhead’s tongue, but she held them in as she didn’t want to particular start yelling them out in the center of the crowded street.  


A few moments later, Talanah glanced back and waved for her to follow, once again. As she led her Strider onward, she found that they were moving from the stone streets to what appeared to be a wooden walkway constructed over the edge of the river. The walkway began to tilt upward until they passed under one of the large arches formed by the support columns of the stone structure she had admired moments ago. As soon as they passed through, the scene before her opened up, once again, although she could only just make out something directly ahead of her, past the dark-haired Carja woman and her Strider ahead of her.  


“Over here, over here!” a voice called from up ahead, and Anukai instantly began to grow tense, images of people with weapons in hand charging toward them flashing before her, only for them to disappear moments later when she saw a man dressed like many of the merchants they had passed so far waving and gesturing toward Talanah.  


As the Carja woman followed his directions and led her Strider to the right, Anukai was finally able to see what was just ahead of them. The walkway gave way to what looked like a floating section of wooden paneling with two poles at the side closest to her bound to two similar poles on the walkway by sections of heavy, thick rope.  


“You, over there!” the man said, gesturing to Anukai before pointing to the left side of what must have been the barge Aloy had mentioned earlier.  


As she led her Strider to the rope barricade at the edge of the floating construction, she tensed slightly at the slight shake and bob of the boat on the water. Once she was relatively certain the Strider wasn’t going to walk anywhere else, she slipped around it to meet the others in the center of the barge. Aloy was talking to the man who had been guiding them onto it, while Talanah milled about idly with her hands on her hips.  


“So this is the best way to get across the river?” Anukai asked, glancing down at the floor. “A floating piece of wood?”  


“Beats swimming with a Strider,” the Carja woman smirked.  


Anukai nodded slowly, turning back to Aloy as she and the man untied the ropes from the poles on the walkway before hopping back onto the barge as it began to float away.  


“So… are we going to have to paddle or…?” Ikrie asked, approaching the rest of the group.  


“Thank the Sun, no,” the man said, laughing. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to try to paddle four Striders across this river.”  


“So how do we move, then?”  


The man grinned as he slipped around the women and approached the far side of the barge. Anukai glanced after him to find that some kind of strange, bench-like fixture rose from the floor, with its outer casing also being made of wood, although the center appeared to be a solid hunk of metal. The man pressed a series of buttons on its surface before grabbing a narrow lever that extended from its top and slowly pushing it forward.  


A moment later, a soft hum filled the air as Anukai felt the floor beneath her feet begin to vibrate, all while the barge began to gain speed.  


“There are motors attached to the bottom,” Aloy explained, grinning. “Definitely beats rowing.”  


“Motors?”  


“Think of it like the part of a machine that actually makes the rest of it move,” she explained. “Like the machines you saw in the fields outside of Meridian, these were built by people, and attached to the bottom of this barge with something called propellors at one end that spin and create propulsion that—”  


Aloy paused as she noted Anukai’s and Ikrie’s blank stares, clearing her throat as she shifted her posture slightly.  


“They spin really fast and make the boat move.”  


The girls nodded slowly as Aloy sighed and Talanah laughed.  


“Some day, you can learn all about these things,” the Carja woman said, “when we’ve confirmed the world isn’t ending and we’re all back home.”  


She paused, glancing to Anukai and Ikrie for a moment before clearing her throat.  


“Well, back in Meridian.”  


Silence fell over the group as the younger girls idly made their way toward the rope barricades around the edge of the barge, staring out at the distant shore as they bobbed through the slight waves in the middle of the river. Anukai let out a heavy sigh, rubbing at her eyes with both hands for a moment.  


“Is it just me,” she said quietly, “or does it feel like we’ve barely gone anywhere for travelling almost half a day?”  


“Not just you,” Ikrie replied, folding her arms over her chest. “What do you think about the whole trying not to be followed stuff?”  


“I think it’s odd,” the redhead said, bracing her hands on her hips as she idly kicked t the surface of one of the boards beneath her feet. “We don’t know what we’re looking for, but it attacked that GAIA and apparently the Elisabet we met… I’d think we’d want a full hunting party.”  


“Well, we kind of have one,” Ikrie shrugged.  


“Depends on how big the game we’re hunting is.”  


The girls exchanged tight-lipped expressions before falling silent as they stared out at the opposite shore fast approaching. As the sight of a similar, wooden dock appeared at the water’s edge ahead, the girls made their way back to the older women in the center of the barge, who were wrapping up whatever conversation they had been having, while both tapped and pointed at the air before them.  


“What are you doing?” Anukai asked slowly.  


“Plotting our route,” Aloy replied, tapping her Focus and turning to the younger redhead. “We’ve got a ways to go through territory none of us have seen in—”  


The older redhead suddenly paused, staring blankly ahead for a moment before shaking her head quickly.  


“Have ever seen before.”  


Anukai regarded her warily, but Aloy didn’t seem to be paying her any mind as she made her way toward the man driving the boat. Talanah let out a heavy sigh, stretching one arm behind her head as she twisted back and forth in place, slightly.  


“We’ll head north for a little while, in case you were wondering,” she said, drawing the girls’ attentions. “It’ll probably make the most sense to get almost entirely as far north as we need to go before cutting westward.”  


“And how far north is that?” Ikrie asked.  


“Technically farther north than where you two are from, I think,” she sighed, letting her arm fall by her side, once again, “or at least equally as far north.”  


“We may be a little under-dressed,” Anukai commented, raising her eyebrows.  


“The western climate is warmer than the region you hail from,” GAIA suddenly chimed in her ear. “The ocean provides the effect of keeping the coastal regions more consistent temperature, so it will not be quite as hot as the desert, nor quite as cold as the tundra.”  


“Ocean?” Anukai asked.  


“Think like the largest lake you’ve ever seen,” Talanah answered, prompting the redhead to raise her eyebrows slightly in surprise. “Part of APOLLO includes learning geography.”  


The younger redhead remained silent, staring back at her with a blank expression as Talanah sighed.  


“APOLLO is the—helper—machine mind, like GAIA, that is in charge of knowledge and learning,” she explained, “and geography is the study of maps and the world’s surface.”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged glances as the Carja woman laughed quietly.  


“We’re _definitely_ getting you into some classes when we get back.”  


A few moments later, the humming that had filled the air around the barge disappearing, along with the vibration beneath their feet, prompting the women to all glance toward the front of the boat. The shore was only yards away, now, as the man at the controls began to spin them around so that the rear portion where they had originally entered was lined up with the wooden dock. A moment later, the humming returned, but the boat continued to move backward.  


“Contact in three… two… one…”  


A moment later, the boat came to a stop with a slight jolt, prompting the Striders to shuffle slightly, but thankfully they remained as calm as they had the entire time, thus far. A moment later, Aloy and the man had hopped aboard the dock, securing the ropes at the rear to posts as they had been when they first entered the barge back in Brightmarket.  


“Okay, everybody off,” the older redhead sighed, stepping back onto the barge and making her way toward her Strider. “One at a time.”  


After several minutes of careful guidance and tugging on the Strider’s wires, all four women and their mounts stood on the the wooden dock affixed to the side of a stone, Carja structure set into the cliff-face, itself, Anukai heaving a heavy sigh as she wiped at her brow with the back of her hand. Aloy thanked the mn from the boat, once again, slipping him some more shards, before he waved goodbye to the group and began to untie his boat, once again.  


“See?” Aloy said, approaching the group and stopping beside her Strider. “Much easier than wading or swimming across.”  


“And it doesn’t entirely look like we’ve been followed, yet,” Talanah remarked, smirking.  


“No, it doesn’t.” the older redhead sighed as she began to pull herself atop her mount, once again. “Come on, we don’t want to give too much of an opportunity for that to happen, though.”  


With that, the party mounted their Striders and began to fall in line behind Aloy as she led the way from the water and along the twisting path that carved its way back and forth across the cliff face, leading up from the strange, stone structures at the waterfront to the more level, sandy ground of the now-familiar desert above. As soon as they were on the open ground, Aloy brought them to a stop, glancing around for a moment before nodding ahead along the worn path before them.  


“All right, let’s head north.”  


“Sure about that way?”  


Aloy glanced over at Talanah, biting her lower lip for a moment before sighing and nodding.  


“It’s the fastest one.”  


“Doesn’t mean it’s the best one…”  


“We’ll be fine, Talanah,” she shot back, her jaw clenched as she gripped the Strider’s wire before her tightly.  


The Carja woman remained silent for several long moments before nodding, adjusting her position atop her Strider slightly.  


“After you.”  


With that, the older redhead took the lead of their small caravan as they made their way away from the river, and away from any semblance of cool air that had lingered. Within minutes, Anukai found herself sweating profusely, once again, while fanning the front of her tunic with one hand.  


“This would be where the cloak comes in handy,” Talanah said, glancing back at her.  


“Now? I feel like it’s making me overheat.”  


“It’s also keeping your skin from burning,” the Carja woman said. “You, especially, don’t strike me as having spent lots of time in direct sunlight.”  


Anukai laughed shortly.  


“Not without layers of furs.”  


“Preceisely,” Talanah nodded. “Put the hood over your head. It’ll help.”  


The younger redhead gave her a dubious look, but complied, pulling the hood portion of the cloak over her head. Immediately, the amount of sunlight shining into her eyes seemed to be reduced, but the heat most definitely did not subside.  


“Trust me, I’ve already dealt with a severly sunburnt redhead once,” Talanah added, smirking as she glanced toward Aloy, “and I don’t want to have to do that again.”  


“It was _once_ , Tal!”  


“Yeah, and you should have seen her,” the Carja woman laughed, glancing back at Anukai. “Couldn’t move, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t—”  


“Okay, _that_ is enough!” Aloy interjected. “I was young and—didn’t know better.”  


“You were twenty-three years old, if I’m not mistaken,” Talanah continued, her grin starting to become infectious as Anukai found herself mirroring it.  


“Younger than I am now!”  


“True…”  


Anukai simply shook her head and adjust the hood of her cloak slightly while keeping her grip steady on the Strider. After roughly an hour or so of following the worn trail, Anukai saw Aloy begin to turn right, having seemingly reached a fork in the path. Just before the younger redhead went to turn after her, something directly ahead of her caught her attention and she brought her Strider to a stop, squinting slightly through the haze that rose off the sand around her.  


“What is it?” came Ikrie’s voice from beside her.  


“You see something over there?” Anukai asked, pointing straight ahead.  


Silence fell over them for a moment before Ikrie hummed a “mhm” in agreement.  


“What is it?” the redhead said, turning her torso slightly so she could more easily see Ikrie beside her.  


The dark-haired girl shrugged, squinting against the harsh, early afternoon sunlight.  


“Could be… a city?”  


“A city?”  


“It is.”  


Both girls jumped as they glanced to their right, Anukai lowering her hood slightly to more easily see Aloy and Talanah, who had circled back to them. She quickly noted the tight-lipped expression on the redhead’s face as she also stared across the open ground toward the dark shape in the distance, while the Carja woman bore more of a concerned expression while watching Aloy.  


“What city is it?” Anukai asked.  


Aloy remained silent for several long moments before sighing.  


“It used to be called Sunfall.”  


“Used to be?” the younger redhead repeated.  


“You also said this ‘used to be’ Shadow Carja territory,” Ikrie chimed in. “Was it theirs?”  


“Yes… to both,” Aloy sighed, turning back to them. “It’s neither anymore.”  


“Then what is it?”  


The older redhead’s grip noticeably tightened around the Strider’s wires as she drew a deep, slow breath in through her nose.  


“A mistake.”  


With that, the older redhead turned her Strider and began to lead the way along the branching path to their right without another word. Talanah glanced back at the girls for a moment, a conflicted expression on her face before she spurred her mount onward after Aloy. The younger girls exchanged glances before turning back to the outline of the city in the distance.  


“What else do you think she’s not telling us?” Anukai sighed.  


“She’s told us everything in time,” Ikrie chided, following suit with the redhead as she gently goaded her mount onward. “Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.”  


Just then, a chime sounded in Anukai’s ear, prompting her to recoil in surprise.  


“The subject of Sunfall is a sensitive subject for Aloy,” GAIA said, her tone soft but with a hint of warning. “I would recommend approaching it carefully.”  


“Why is it sensitive for her?” Anukai asked quickly. “You clearly know why.”  


“I do, however it is not my place,” the voice of the light-woman said. “Like your question for me last night, this is also best answered by Aloy, herself, however… I simply urge you to use tact and discretion.”  


The younger redhead let out an irritated huff as she shook her head, glancing over at Ikrie to find her with an expectant look on her face.  


“GAIA told me that whatever happened with Sunfall, we have to be careful with how we approach Aloy with it,” she explained.  


“I think I could have told you that based on her reaction, myself,” the dark-haired girl frowned. “Did she say anything else?”  


“Not really,” Anukai sighed, shaking her head.  


“I’m sorry, child, I do not mean to—”  


“It’s okay, GAIA,” the redhead interjected. “I’m used to it by now.”  


With that, she slid the Focus from beside her ear, turning it over in her fingers a few times before sliding it into the pouch on her belt.  


“We’ve already come this far into the unknown based on people not telling us anything… why not go farther?”  


Suddenly, something touched her arm and she started, glancing to her left to find Ikrie had maneuvered her Strider closer, her hand oustretched and resting on Anukai’s forearm. She offered a small smile to the redhead, who took a deep breath and attempted to return it. A moment later, Ikrie’s hand slid down past her wrist and she flipped her hand over, allowing the dark-haired girl to thread her fingers through her own.  


Anukai’s fingers slowly clasped Ikrie’s hand in hers as she glanced up at her, once again, both of them nodding before letting their arms fall loosely at their sides, their fingers still securely intertwined in the small gap between them as they continued to follow after the two Striders ahead of them, farther into the sun-drenched haze of brown and tan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise all of these vague hints and statements will receive answers and pay offs soon enough, there just wasn't time in this chapter.
> 
> See y'all next week.


	10. When I Slept in The Sand (Did You See Me As I Was Dreaming?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This week's chapter title reference brought to you by [Silent Planet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-rv856K0W0).
> 
> Longest chapter I've ever posted, I believe, at 13,000 words this week. Brace yourselves.
> 
> Also, because I said I would provide updates for anyone who wants: the album of music based on Horizon:Zero Dawn that I said I was making is still in recording. All guitars for the first two songs are done ("Artificial Mother" and "Huntress", working titles), along with the drums to the first three (the third being "Setting Fire to the Sky"). There'll be more to come, but I'm super stoked on it.
> 
> Anyhow, here's the next chapter. Get ready for some fucked up shit. Did I mention I love horror movies/games?

After several hours of travelling under the scorching sun in near total silence, Aloy suddenly seemed to perk up on her mount, quickly raising one hand to her left, which the rest took as a sign to come to a sudden stop. Anukai frowned as she craned her neck to see what had prompted her reaction, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, or truly any different than what they had seen thus far.  


“Why—?”  


“Shh!”  


The younger redhead felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as one hand tightened around the wires of her Strider, the other slowly moving toward the bowstring across her torso.  


“Ahead. There.”  


She carefully moved her Strider alongside Aloy’s before squinting into the distance in the direction the older redhead was pointing. Still, nothing stood out to her as out of the ordinary.  


“I don’t…”  


“Tracks. Caravan.”  


Anukai scanned the ground in the distance more carefully until she finally spotted what seemed to be concerning Aloy. A line of trampled sand snaked across the path ahead of them, curving just past it and beginning to move more or less in parallel.  


“Machines?” she asked, glancing over at the older redhead.  


Aloy frowned, shaking her head.  


“Not alone, at least,” she said.  


“Hostile, though?”  


The older redhead sighed, glancing over at Anukai.  


“Most likely drifters, but out here… that means ex-Shadow Carja.”  


Anukai’s eyebrows raised slightly.  


“I thought you said they were gone?”  


“Some survived.”  


The younger redhead debated pressing further, but Aloy had already turned to Talanah on her other side.  


“If we go back, we’ve wasted half a day,” she was saying.  


“But if we go forward… we’re taking that risk,” Talanah shot back.  


“We’re capable,” Aloy scoffed.  


“We don’t know how many they are.”  


“Trail doesn’t look like that much.”  


“From this far away, sure,” the Carja woman retorted. “Aloy, I know you want to get where we’re going, but… I think right now we can afford slower and safer, rather than risking faster and potentially losing resources or getting injured.”  


The older redhead sighed frustratedly, slumping her shoulders slightly as she turned to look back toward the scene ahead of them, her jaw working tensely. Finally, she shook her head, tugging on her Strider’s cables and beginning to lead it around Anukai’s.  


“Fine, we go back.”  


The younger redhead hesitated for a moment, staring at the tracks they had seen for several moments longer before following suit and turning after Aloy. The shift from having the sun shining into her face to her back brought with it a welcome release from the feeling of heat, although the brown cloak was already beginning to heat up. As Ikrie turned her Strider and fell in step beside Anukai, once again, she nudged the redhead with her elbow.  


“How’re you feeling?”  


“Fine, why?” she replied, confusion creasing her face.  


“Your face is looking a little red.”  


Anukai frowned, running her fingers over her nose and along her cheekbones to find that the skin there tingled slightly to the touch, and also seemed to radiate a slight feeling of warmth.  


“I have a feeling that’s going to start hurting, soon enough,” she muttered, sighing. “Great.”  


Ikrie frowned, but didn’t say anything else as they fell into the familiar pattern of plodding forward while remaining silent. As the sun’s last few rays finally abandoned the sandy ground and began to race toward the tops of the rock formations to their right, the older women brought their Striders to a stop, once again.  


As they approached, Anukai noted that Aloy and Talanah already appeared to be having a heated, but quiet discussion. When the younger girls finally came to a stop before them, Aloy sighed and dismounted her Strider.  


“We’ll set up camp for the night,” Talanah explained.  


Anukai nodded, moving to dismount her Strider, as well, when she happened to glance at the scenery ahead of them and paused. The vague, dark shape she had seen at a distance, earlier, was now much closer, prompting her eyes to widen slightly, but she said nothing.  


“We’re camping in the open?” she asked, instead, stepping around her Strider.  


“Out here, can actually be safer,” Aloy shrugged. “You can see what’s coming from a long ways away.”  


Anukai noted how the older redhead’s eyes flicked toward the scene she had noticed upon dismounting, before she turned back to the younger redhead.  


“That’s what I’m going with, anyway.”  


Despite remaining somewhat in the open, they did decide to actually lay out their bedrolls on the lower side of a sand dune, leading the Striders down into the small valley of sand, as well. The machines seemed to attempt to graze before giving up on the incredibly sparse resources amongst the sand and simply resorting to milling about.  


Anukai eyed their paths warily and set up her bedroll well out of where they had walked so far, images of being awoken by a Strider’s hoof to the head running through her mind, but she quickly pushed them aside. Ikrie laid hers so that one end met the corner of Anukai’s, before falling onto it with a heavy sigh, running her hands over her face vigorously for a moment.  


“No fire, unfortunately,” Talanah said, removing her bow from over her shoulders and laying it beside her bedroll. “Mainly because we don’t want to draw attention, but also because… well, look around.”  


Anukai nodded, frowning slightly as she scanned the sea of beige that seemed to stretch as far as she could see.  


“You know… if the color was lighter, it almost might feel like—might feel familiar,” she sighed, glancing down at Ikrie.  


The dark-haired girl turned her head to glance out at the sand beside her before nodding.  


“I get the feeling.”  


Shortly after, Aloy broke open the supply of dried meat, but this time also produced a small bag with four small, round pieces of fruit. Anukai took one, turning it over in her hand as she let out a soft “oh.”  


“You remember that from Meridian, right?” Aloy said, grinning before taking a sizeable bite out of hers.  


“Yeah, an apple,” Anukai nodded. “I remember them being pretty good.”  


“They’re her favorite,” Talanah whispered loudly, making a show of trying to hide her lips from Aloy, despite her voice being nearly at a normal talking volume.  


Aloy rolled her eyes as the Carja woman laughed and began to eat hers.  


“So, if we’re going back,” Ikrie interjected, propping herself up on one elbow, “how far out of the way are we going to get where we’re going?”  


“Well, we have to get around this entire mountain range, now,” Aloy sighed, gesturing to the tall, red rock formations in the distance. “From what I know, and from what my Focus shows, we’ve got a good half day’s ride until we hit a crossing point.”  


“Oh good,” the dark-haired girl sighed, biting into her apple.  


Silence fell over them for a few moments before Aloy suddenly made a short “oh” sound.  


“You got burned, Anukai.”  


“Burned?” she repeated, confusion creasing her face.  


“Like, sunburned,” Aloy continued, reaching for her belt’s worth of supplies. “Your face is redder than I thought.”  


“Oh… a bit, I guess.”  


“Trust me, it’s not just a bit,” Aloy frowned, grabbing what appeared to be a small jar of something and motioning for the younger redhead to catch it before tossing it across the small gap between them.  


“What’s this?” she asked as she caught it.  


“It’s a salve made from a particular kind of plant,” she said. “Just rub it on your face until it stops feeling wet.”  


Anukai made a face in disgust, prompting Aloy to laugh.  


“Trust me, you’ll thank me later.”  


With a sigh, the younger redhead opened the top of the jar, removing some of the salve with two of her fingers and beginning to rub it across the bridge of her nose. The consistency of the salve remained rather gelatinous for quite a while as she began rubbing it, but true to Aloy’s word, it finally began to feel drier, and she was eventually able to stop rubbing at her face.  


“Better?”  


“Give it overnight,” Aloy nodded, catching the jar as Anukai tossed it back to her.  


After another short while of conversation where Ikrie tried to get Talanah to reveal more about the story of the incredible sunburn Aloy had received that she had mentioned earlier, all the while the older redhead did everything in her power to prevent her from telling, they all agreed they needed to try to sleep. Despite the empty scenery around them, they agreed that they would need to take shifts on watch, with Talanah volunteering for the first shift.  


As soon as Anukai lay down on her bedroll, she found her eyes closing of their own accord, all while she tried to fight it for a few moments longer to allow herself to get comfortable, removing her belt and squirming and shifting until the sand beneath the bedroll seemed to have sunken enough to not leave any strange spots stabbing into her back or side. Finally, with one last heavy sigh, she let her eyes slide closed and she found herself drifting off.  


At first, it seemed as if she might be able to actually rest, uninterrupted, but she soon found that hope was fleeting as the sound of a soft voice began to filter through the darkness of unconsciousness. She tried to focus on it for a moment, attempting to pinpoint if it was something she needed to be worried about, but quickly began to realize that it was not immediately familiar.  


When she realized that it had a masculine tone to it, in particular, she found her eyes opening as her heart began to race.  


Her head immediately lifted as her arms and legs tensed, ready to reach for her weapons behind her, only to realize that the voice had stopped. She remained still and silent for a moment, listening, but it didn’t sound again. Just then, the world seemed to fully pop into bright existence around her as she squeezed her eyes closed tightly for a moment.  


“Good morning.”  


Confusion creased her face before she had even opened her eyes, once again.  


“GAIA?”  


“Yes?”  


Anukai’s eyes slid open, only for her brow to crease deeper. The world before her was not an expanse of beige, but a straight, flat surface of grey.  


“Where am I?”  


A moment passed before the familiar voice replied, once again.  


“You are in your quarters,” the voice of the light-woman said. “While my first estimate is that you are simply experiencing great fatigue, I have no recollection of similar behavior previously.”  


“What behavior? What do you mean?”  


“Not remembering where you are while appearing awake.”  


“GAIA… this… this isn’t right,” Anukai said, squeezing her eyes shut tightly once again. “Something’s… something’s wrong. This is a—”  


As she opened her eyes, once again, she found the image before her had changed. No longer was it a simple, grey surface, but an entire room made of metal walls, with metal furniture scattered about it. Immediately, Anukai’s heart began to race as the most noticeable difference began to screw up its face in confusion.  


“What were you saying?”  


The woman standing directly before her looked familiar, sounded familiar, but she couldn’t place why, yet.  


“This is a… dream?”  


The woman continued to stare back at her dubiously, taking a sip from some kind of mug in her hands before adjusting the bright blue scarf wrapped about her head ever so slightly.  


“I don’t think so… would be a very boring one, if it was,” she replied, laughing.  


Suddenly, the memory of the woman seemed to click into place in Anukai’s mind.  


The image in the strange bunker where she had found Elisabet.  


“ _Today is a big day…_ ”  


Anukai slowly began to shake her head, backing away from the woman as concern creased her face.  


“Elisabet, what’s wrong?”  


Anukai’s heart stopped as she could feel the color drain from her face.  


“No… I…?”  


Just then, the image before her changed, yet again, to another rmetal room, although this time a bright light was shining into her eyes and she quickly attempted to close them at its harshness.  


“Reacting as normal.”  


“No concussion? Damn, you’re one tough gal, you know that?”  


Anukai’s heart was pounding in her chest as she dared to open her eyes again. More figures appeared before, although this time the woman from before was not among them. She tried to squirm away from them, but she was held in place as intense pain quickly shot through her skull, forcing a groan out of her.  


“Easy, no concussion, but a head wound’s nothin’ to pass off.”  


She tried to focus on the images of the men’s faces, but the world had begun to swim before her, leading to a churning, nauseous feeling building in her stomach. A few moments later, she felt it surge up her throat and she instinctually leaned forward as she vomited. As she did, she heard the sound of the liquid hitting something metallic, and she forced herself to breathe deeply for several moments until she was able to center herself, once again.  


As she did, she realized that she was staring at what appeared to be the carcass of a large machine, and confusion beset her, once again. Upon further inspection, she didn’t recognize its shape, prompting her to straighten up and take a few steps back. It had a large, central body, with four spindly legs and a single, arm-like appendange attached to the back of its body.  


“What are you…?” she muttered, tilting her head to the side as she shifted her position slightly.  


When she did, she heard the sound of clinking metal and glanced down to find that she was dressed somewhat similarly to her normal clothes, except they appeared to mainly be made of fur and leather, with metal, armored sections sewn into them.  


It looked a lot like…  


Her eyes widened as she instinctually reached toward her head, grabbing a piece of braided hair that she found and pulling it before her. The end was held in place by a dark blue bead that was distinctly not Banuk in design. As her fingers quickly sought out the space next to her right ear, they brushed against something small and metallic, which prompted a sphere of light to burst into life around her.  


Her hand quickly pulled away from her face as she glanced around at the various shapes and glyphs that had appeared in the air before her, as well.  


“GAIA?” she called, but only silence answered her. “GAIA?!”  


A moment later, the world before her was replaced with a hazy, brown image of a strange building, its walls mainly made of wood, however it was of a design that she didn’t recognize. As she blinked instinctually at the image of the sand whipping by her, she quickly found that she couldn’t feel it pelting her skin. Instead, she felt something like a heavy blanket laid over her entire body.  


When she tried to glance down, she found that her head was prevented from moving fully by some kind of metallic cage, and she began to panic, her heart rate accelerating. A strange beeping sound, almost like an alarm, filled her ears as she tried to look around for the source, but her motion was just as limited as it had been a moment ago.  


Suddenly, she became aware that her lungs were burning, each breath feeling less fulfilling than the last. She desperately tried to slow her breathing, but it seemed to do little, the burning in her lungs continuing to grow as she desperately gasped for air. Her heart beat seemed to be like a constant, droning tone in her ears as the edges of her vision began to fade, the darkness quickly approaching the center of her eyesight.  


“No… no…”  


She fought for every inch of her vision back, but it was no use as her lungs ached worse than any physical pain she’d felt before, and the world had gone almost entirely dark.  


“N-no…”  


With one final gasp of air that she could draw, a single scream escaped her.  


“No!”  


A moment later, the darkness entirely overcame her vision, but in its place, she found that she could hear a soft, almost whispering sound.  


Her heart continued to pound furiously in her chest as she remained still, suddenly finding herself acutely aware of the world around her, even if her eyes remained closed. She reveled in the feeling of air in her lungs for a moment or two longer before focusing on the sounds she had noticed a moment ago.  


The soft voices continued for a moment before they came to a stop and were replaced with what could have been footsteps trudging through the sand around them. The sounds of motion came from somewhere ahead of her for several more moments before they, too, finally came to a stop.  


Several seconds of still silence passed before Anukai finally dared to crack one eye open. Upon doing so, she noted that one of the two bedrolls ahead of her was empty, however it was the not the one that had been so when she fell asleep. The dark head of hair facing her told her that she had at least gotten a few hours of sleep, as the guard had clearly switched, but after closing her eyes for a minute or two, once again, she knew sleep would refuse to come, once again.  


With a sigh, she gave in and opened her eyes, once more. She turned her head to try to see past her feet toward Ikrie, but she could only make out the vague shape of her sleeping figure. Neither of the other two were moving, but her eyes quickly focused on the silhouette of a figure seated atop the nearby crest of a sand dune. With a slow breath in through her nose, she carefully pushed her blanket aside and dragged herself to her feet.  


Taking extra care to skirt the sleeping form of Ikrie, she made her way toward the silhouette, rubbing at her eyes with both hands. When she let them fall away, once again, she noted the figure had turned toward her, Aloy’s red hair just barely visible under the moonlight.  


“You should be asleep,” the older redhead said softly as Anukai approached, dropping to a seated position on the sand beside her.  


“Couldn’t.”  


Aloy frowned slightly, but didn’t press further as her gaze shifted to scan across the scenery behind them. Silence pervaded over the redheads for several long moments before Anukai finally swallowed the lump in her throat, her fingers seeking out one of the ties on her boots and twisting the end of it absentmindedly.  


“So… what’s the story with Sunfall?”  


Aloy’s head immediately whipped around toward Anukai, who cringed slightly at the motion. The older redhead’s posture quickly relaxed as she sighed, shaking her head.  


“I said—”  


“A mistake,” Anukai interrupted. “That doesn’t tell me anything.”  


“It wasn’t supposed to.”  


The younger redhead glanced up at her, jaw clenched as she noted the older redhead’s eyes had closed and she heard her inhale slowly through her nose.  


“I’m sorry, Anukai, I…”  


“I get it.”  


“No—”  


“It’s another—”  


“It’s difficult history,” Aloy interrupted, her tone firm and just loud enough to override the younger redhead’s, but not enough to wake the other women behind them, “but… it’s not just my history.”  


Anukai noted how she glanced back toward Talanah with a dower expression for a moment before a shiver wracked the older redhead.  


“I told you it used to be a Shadow Carja city, I think,” she said.  


“It was inferred, at least.”  


“Well—okay,” Aloy replied, shrugging awkwardly. “Anyway… as you may have guessed, they weren’t particularly the greatest neighbors, especially this close to Meridian.”  


Anukai remained focused on the older redhead, even as she had turned her attention to gazing at the dark shapes of the buildings in the distance.  


“They also had the extra benefit of setting up their capital city atop something of great importance.”  


“Like what?” Anukai asked, confusion creasing her brow. “Resources?”  


“Not of the kind you’re thinking of,” Aloy said, nodding slowly. “Do you see the circular building on the right side?”  


Anukai turned her gaze across the open ground toward the darkened silhouettes in the distance, scanning over them until she noted the curved wall of some kind of structure on the righthand side, one section almost entirely caved in or destroyed.  


“Yeah.”  


“That used to be something called an Orbital Launch Site.”  


“A what?”  


“It was used to launch ancient machines off this planet… into the stars.”  


Aloy pointed up toward the sky as Anukai glanced up, scanning over the expanse of tiny pinpricks of light for several moments before looking back down at the older redhead.  


“The Old Ones really knew how to do that?”  


“They built great flying machines that could,” she nodded. “Anyway, it had long outlived that purpose before the fall of their civilization. Beneath it, however, Elisabet Sobeck built a massive bunker.”  


Anukai raised her eyebrows slightly as she glanced back toward the image of the city in the distance.  


“She used it to design the Zero Dawn project, which created GAIA,” Aloy continued. “Her birthplace is right over there, actually… GAIA’s, that is.”  


“Under that building?”  


“Yeah, deep underground.”  


Anukai nodded slowly as Aloy sighed.  


“Well, it could still serve a great purpose, even now. The information that I brought to Meridian, which you saw me use to repair GAIA when she was—injured—was originally stored there.”  


“So… you needed control over the area?”  


Aloy remained silent for several long moments before sighing heavily, rubbing her eyes tiredly with one hand.  


“I thought we did.”  


“Thought?”  


The older redhead remained silent, staring down at at the ground beside her as she idly traced patterns in the sand with her finger. Just as she opened her mouth to respond, however, a distant sound caused her to stop, both redheads growing stiff as they stared at each other. Several seconds of total silence followed before the sound came again.  


This time, it sent shivers down Anukai’s spine.  


“Is that some kind of animal?” she muttered, glancing out across the open ground beside them.  


“Not like any I’ve heard…”  


Just then, the sound came again, like a distant, high-pitched wailing that slowly faded into existence before disappearing into the night, once again.  


“Machine?” Anukai breathed, still continuing to scan across the open ground, but finding nothing.  


“Not any I’ve heard…”  


Just then, Anukai’s eyes fixed on something in the distance and she squinted slightly.  


“Do you see that?”  


“See what?”  


Anukai pointed, sensing Aloy lean in toward her out of her peripheral as she kept her eyes locked on the small point of light that had appeared amongst the darkened shapes of the former city. From this distance, it appeared to be the orange-red of a flame, but it was impossible to tell how large it was.  


“Is that… a fire?” the younger redhead asked slowly.  


“Looks like one…”  


Just then, the wailing sound came again, causing both redheads to shiver uncontrollably.  


“It’s not an animal… it’s not a machine…” Aloy muttered softly.  


Anukai’s lips pulled into a thin line as she glanced over at Aloy beside her.  


“It’s a person. It must be.”  


The older redhead frowned slightly, shaking her head.  


“I haven’t seen anyone come or go, and Talanah didn’t tell me she had, either.”  


The sound came again, prompting Anukai to glance over at the older redhead.  


“It sounds like someone in trouble.”  


Aloy shook her head more firmly before glancing over at Anukai.  


“I don’t trust it.”  


The wailing echoed across the open sands yet again, prompting the younger redhead’s hands to clench tightly around her skirt in her lap.  


“How do you know?”  


“Anukai…”  


“How do you know?” she repeated more insistently, turning toward the older redhead. “Whatever that sound is… it’s not someone or some _thing_ in a good place.”  


“Anukai…”  


“You’d just sit here and let whatever it is happen?”  


“Anukai…”  


“No. I can’t.”  


“Anukai!”  


Aloy’s voice had been growing in volume and force each time she had repeated the young redhead’s name, but it finally burst into an angry hiss as she reached forward, grabbing the young Banuk’s wrist.  


“Don’t. Do it.”  


“I’m going,” she said in a low tone. “You can keep watch.”  


Aloy’s eyes widened slightly as Anukai used the moment to wrench her arm free, scrambling to her feet a moment later before turning back to their bedrolls. Once she had gathered her bow and belt of equipment, she marched back toward Aloy, only pausing for a moment beside the older redhead to glance down at her before continuing onward, toward the darkened ruins of the city in the distance. After a minute or two of walking, the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching from behind prompted her to glance back, only to find Aloy jogging to catch up with her, bow slung across her torso, as well.  


“I’m not going to let you go alone, if you insist on going, after all,” she muttered.  


Anukai turned back to face the city before her without saying anything in response, her jaw clenched shut tightly. The walk between their camp and the city was longer than she anticipated, all the while the buildings grew taller and taller, until she realized that they, too, were much larger than she had expected. As they stepped onto what appeared to be a remnant of the more worn paths they had been following, she glanced back to find Aloy following a few steps behind, her gaze locked on the tops of the buildings before them.  


As the older redhead came to a stop beside Anukai, she finally glanced over at her.  


“Still want to go in?” she asked.  


The wailing sound came again, suddenly, although this time it was much louder, and tinged with what most definitely sounded like the tone of someone in pain.  


“Yes.”  


Aloy sighed, but didn’t protest further as Anukai continued along the old path, drawing closer to the curved, sloping walkway that led from the sand of the desert up to a large, stone gate that marked the entrance into the city ruins. At this distance, she was more clearly able to make out how large chunks of the stone structures had seemingly crumbled, leaving jagged edges stretching up into the night sky. The stone of the walls appeared to be scorched black, as well, as her eyes travelled over the outside of the city, once again.  


Without a word, Anukai turned and began her path up the walkway, her footsteps on its surface seemingly echoing off the stone structures and rock formations nearby. Just as she was drawing near the gate into the city, she suddenly came to a halt at the edge of a gap in the walkway, the floor suddenly giving way to a ten or so yard drop like a jagged, unhealed scar in the stone structure’s surface.  


Anukai glanced down at the opening for a moment before locking her sights on the continuation of the platform on the other side. Just as she began to back away from the opening, Aloy’s hand on her shoulder prompted her to stop and glance over at her.  


“You still sure?” she whispered.  


“Yes. Why would I have changed my opinion just now?” Anukai hissed.  


“Because… never mind.”  


With that, Anukai turned back to the gap before her and charged forward, bracing her foot on the lip of the opening and using it to propel herself into the air. It was only a few feet wide, so she easily cleared it, landing on the opposite side and slowing to a walk after several steps. The sound of footsteps, followed by a grunt came from behind her, prompting Anukai to glance back just as Aloy landed on the same side of the walkway as her. The older redhead came to a stop next to her a moment later, sighing heavily.  


They exchanged nods before turning back to the large gate that marked the entrance to the city ahead of them, the upper right corner seemingly having been destroyed at one point, giving the impression of a colossal bite taken out of the stone structure.  


“Welcome to Sunfall.”  


Anukai’s lips drew into a thin line as she turned her attention back to the path ahead of her, marching toward the dark opening. As soon as she stepped through the gateway, the amount of silver-blue moonlight seemed to drop considerably, plunging the first street inside the city into near-total darkness. The younger redhead squinted slightly as she glanced around, trying to make out the details of the space, but it was of little use, as there was simply not enough light to actually illuminate anything other than the very tops of the buildings around her.  


“Your Focus can help with that.”  


She jumped at the sound of Aloy’s voice beside her, glancing over to find the older woman tapping the device beside her ear. After poking at thin air for several moments she turned to Anukai, holding out her hand. The younger redhead stared back at her for a moment before she realized what she meant and took the Focus from beside her ear, handing it over.  


Aloy swapped it for hers, quickly making similar motions in the air before returning Anukai’s Focus to her. When the younger redhead put it back on, the world around her was suddenly outlined in faint, white lines of light that revealed the shapes of doorways, abandoned merchant stalls, rubble, and various stairwells.  


“Low light mode,” Aloy said. “Comes in handy.”  


Anukai nodded as she glanced around, frowning slightly.  


“Where do we go from here…?” she muttered.  


Just then, the wailing sound came again, much louder now that they were inside the city, itself, but this time Anukai swore she heard something else following after it, like some kind of loud scraping or grinding.  


“It’s coming from everywhere…” she growled, spinning in place. “I think we need to find some higher ground where we can actually see where we’re going.”  


Aloy nodded, gesturing to a staircase to their right.  


“From what I recall, that way may bring us that.”  


Anukai glanced toward the staircase for a moment before nodding and stalking quickly toward it. As she jogged up the steps, she continued to scan the outlined buildings around her, noting how many of them seemed to sport large holes in their structures, while some had more or less entirely collapsed, leaving only the barest skeletons of frames reaching into the night sky.  


As she reached the upper level of the staircase, she followed the street to the left, eventually leading to a more open courtyard between various buildings. What had once been merchant stalls were shoved up against the fronts of the buildings ahead of her, while various pieces that once been more intact stalls littered the ground. In the center of the courtyard, however, was a very different pile that immediately drew her attention.  


She found herself drawn toward it as she tilted her head to the side slightly. The collection before her appeared to be made up of items from dwellings, including furniture, clothes, children’s toys, and various broken pieces that she couldn’t identify, anymore. A hard lump formed in her throat, which she quickly tried to swallow down, but it did little use. The sound of footsteps coming to a stop a few yards behind her prompted her to glance back, only to find Aloy staring at the same pile with a blank expression on her face. From what little light the moon still cast, Anukai could still tell how pale the older redhead’s face had gone.  


“What happened here, Aloy?” the younger redhead said softly.  


The older woman remained silent, staring at the pile of destroyed and forgotten possessions for several long moments before the same grinding and scraping sound as earlier suddenly echoed throughout the courtyard, although much louder now. Both women jumped, whirling in place for the source of the sound, but nothing else appeared to be moving, except for them.  


It was most definitely growing louder, though.  


“Cover,” Aloy hissed, rushing forward and pushing Anukai toward the far side of the courtyard.  


They both turned and quickly made a break for a narrow alleyway between two of the buildings, both of them just barely squeezing through the gap between two abandoned merchant stalls before dropping into crouches behind one of them. The sound continued to grow even louder, prompting Anukai to wince before a shiver ran down her spine. A few moments later, the moonlight spilling into the courtyard from an opening at the opposite corner from where they had entered was blocked by three shapes that cast long shadows across the courtyard, itself. Two of them were human-shaped, albeit with what appeared to be armor that made the shoulder portions appear much more jagged and exaggerated than they would have normally.  


The third shape, however, appeared to be held between them, and looked almost like a cart, although based on the sound, it appeared to not have any wheels. Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she watched the shadows move from one side of the opening to the other, before finally disappearing, once again.  


The sound began to fade, once again, although the high-pitched wailing quickly took its place. By now, it was quite apparent that it was a voice, but there were still no discernable words to it.  


“I’ve got a very bad feeling about this…” Aloy muttered.  


“We’ve come this far,” Anukai shot back, glancing over at the older redhead. “What do you think those people were dragging?”  


“Nothing good.”  


The younger redhead let out a growl of frustration before glancing across the courtyard, once again. Once she had confirmed the figures had not returned, nor had any new ones appeared, she slid from their hiding place and began to make her way toward the opening they had crossed moments ago.  


As she approached the gap in the buildings, where a short staircase led up to yet another street, she carefully slipped across the bottom step, approaching the wall of the far building and using it for cover as she slowly made her way up the steps. Once at the top, she glanced to her left, finding that the street seemed to lead farther into the city in that direction, but there were no signs of anyone else, still. Her eyes travelled up to a large building nestled against the cliff face at the very back of the city, signs of tall towers long since cleaved in half easily discernable against the red rock behind them. The glowing light she had first seen from a distance appeared to be coming from a large opening about two-thirds of the way to the top, but there were still no obvious signs as to what was generating it, other than some kind of fire.  


With a frown, Anukai carefully braced herself against the wall beside her before leaning around the corner to try to look in the direction the figures had gone earlier. The street seemed to continue for about twenty or thirty yards before coming to a stop. Confusion creased her face as there were no signs of the figures or their strange cart, but her eyes quickly locked onto the beginning of a stone railing on one side of the street where she had thought it had come to a stop, at first.  


“Another staircase,” she muttered.  


With that, she gave one last wide, sweeping glance across the street before carefully slipping out of cover and into the open ground, once again. She quickly made for the buildings on the left side of the street, her heart pounding in her ears as she continued to scan the area ahead of her for any signs of other figures approaching. As she continued on her path toward the large building in the distance, she noted that sections of the stone street around her appeared to have large craters set in it, similar to the holes in the buildings she had seen thus far.  


As she passed one of the craters, she noted how the stone around it appeared to be scorched, as well, the black marks permanently etched into its surface.  


As her eyes lifted from the hole beside her, something else caught her attention and she frowned, glancing up and down the street before stepping away from the cover of the buildings to a stone railing that now appeared to be half-standing on the opposite side. As she peered over it, her breath caught in her throat.  


The image beneath her appeared to be the inside of the circular structure Aloy had indicated from their camp, although she had not been prepared for what was contained inside it. On one side of the circular space was a massive pile of what appeared to be discarded pieces of metal, although as Anukai looked closer, she quickly realized what it was: pieces of armor. Helmets, chest guards, bracers, and boots, all colored black or a dark red, all lying in a heap.  


Beside the discarded gear was another large pile, although this appeared to be made up of pieces of wood, stone, and metal, but she couldn’t tell what they had once comprised by the pieces, alone.  


What drew her attention the most, however, was the side of the open ground closest to her. The dirt floor that made up the rest of the space appeared to have been excavated, revealing a path that slowly descended to the top of a large, metal plate. A singular, square opening had been cut in the metal, revealing nothing but a pure black hole beneath it, while a simple rope and pulley system had been erected over it, a wooden platform swaying slightly in the open air.  


“This used to be the Sun Ring.”  


Anukai jumped at the sound of Aloy’s voice beside her, glancing over to find the older redhead staring down at the space, as well.  


“The Sun Ring?”  


“Where they sacrificed people to the Sun in an attempt to stop the Derangement… and later as a means of punishment for those who opposed them that they managed to capture.”  


Anukai nodded slowly, turning back to the opening in the metal surface.  


“And that?”  


“An entrance to Zero Dawn.”  


“They knew about it, too?”  


“Briefly.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she glanced over at Aloy, only to freeze when she noticed movement past the older redhead’s shoulder.  


“Incoming,” she hissed.  


Just as Aloy whirled toward the direction Anukai had been looking, the two figures approaching froze. The two parties stared each other down for a moment before one of the distat shapes pointed.  


“Demons!”  


His voice bellowed across the open ground, echoing amongst the stone structures around them. Aloy swore under her breath as she quickly pulled her bow free, nocking an arrow to it in only a moment. Anukai followed suit, taking aim at the figures as they began to charge toward them.  


The redheads took quick aim before loosing their arrows. Anukai’s sailed just over her intended target’s shoulder, prompting her to curse loudly, while Aloy’s struck the figure on the left’s shoulder. He staggered for a moment, but didn’t stop his headlong charge. Both figures drew weapons from their belts, prompting the Anukai’s heart rate to skyrocket. She quickly nocked another arrow before aiming more carefully and loosing it at the figure on the right.  


This time, her shot hit its mark, landing firmly in the figure’s face. He suddenly seemed to collapse, falling to the ground with a heavy thud before sliding for a foot or two. Aloy also drew a second arrow, firing it at her target. Hers landed in the figure’s neck, causing him to spin around as he also fell to the ground, but continue to writhe, unlike the figure on the right.  


“Shit…”  


Aloy quickly holstered her bow before charging forward.  


“Wait!”  


Anukai rushed after her, grabbing Aloy at the last second before she reached the figures, just as the one on the right suddenly lifted from his spot on the ground and swung what appeared to be a sword at them. Both redheads recoiled in surprise before Anukai quickly drew another arrow, nocking it to her bow and taking aim at point blank range. The second arrow slammed into the figure’s face, once again, right in the corner of his right eye.  


A sickening gurgling sound escaped him as he fell to the ground, once again, the sword clattering from his grasp. The other man continued to writhe and thrash about, swinging his weapon wildly with one hand as the other grasped feebly at the arrow in his neck. With a frown, Aloy drew her bow, once again, and unleashed a final arrow into the man’s face, as Anukai had done.  


Finally, the second figure lay still, his weapon also clattering harmlessly on the ground.  


“They just… kept coming,” Anukai panted. “How?”  


Aloy’s face had gone pale, once again, as she shook her head.  


“I… I-I don’t know.”  


The two women carefully approached the figures, maneuvering around them until they could actually see their faces. Anukai carefully turned her target’s head with the toe of her boot so she could see him more clearly, only to let out a shriek and hop backward when she saw his face.  


His skin appeared to have been pulled taut over his skull, nearly all semblance of flesh and muscle missing. As his head lolled back to one side, his jaw hung open, stretching the skin of his cheeks even further. The blood that pooled from where her arrows had landed began to spill onto the stone, and while it was difficult to tell under the faint moonlight that lit the world, it almost appeared black.  


“What’s… what’s wrong with them?” she panted, glancing over at Aloy.  


The older redhead shook her head, stepping back from the other figure.  


“I don’t know,” she said. “Anukai, I really think we shouldn’t be here.”  


Just then, the wailing cry that had drawn them in earlier sounded, once again, but this time there was a clearly identifiable word mixed in with it.  


“Help!”  


Both redheads exchanged glances, each of them swallowing heavily at the same time.  


“We can’t—”  


“We can,” Anukai,” Aloy interrupted. “Sometimes you need to know when it’s not your fight.”  


“Could you leave here and go to sleep knowing that we walked away?” Anukai spat.  


“You’re the one who said you didn’t know if you could have stopped the Eclipse from wiping out the Nora.”  


“And I’m thinking you’re the reason this whole city is dead.”  


Aloy recoiled as if physically struck, her mouth hanging open as her eyes widened. Anukai contined to stare her down as her chest heaved, a burning feeling appearing deep within it.  


“Tell me I’m wrong, then.”  


“I said… it was a mistake…”  


The wailing call came again, prompting Anukai to let out a heavy sigh, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them to stare down the older redhead, once again.  


“I’m going. You can follow, or go back.”  


With that, the younger redhead turned and began to stalk away. After she had gone just far enough that she began to wonder if she was actually going to make the rest of the trek on her own, the sound of hurried footsteps on the stone street began to echo from behind her and several moments later, Aloy slowed to a walk beside her. They fell in step as they continued along the street, moving toward the large building in the distance.  


“If there’s going to be more,” Aloy said quietly, “they’re going to be in the palace, there.”  


Anukai simply nodded, fixing her eyes on the flickering light near the top of the building. The rest of their journey through the carcass of a city passed in near total silence as they made their way around more craters and collapsed walkways, and climbed up crumbling walls that had once been staircases until they came to a stop at what had formerly been a short bridge between the stone dais where they stood and the entrance to the palace.  


“Gonna have to jump again,” Aloy sighed.  


Just then, the sound of another voice from nearby prompted Anukai to whirl around. At first, she didn’t see anyone else on the platform with them, prompting her brow to crease in confusion. A moment later, however, her eyes locked on a strange flickering by the nearby banister. At first, it appeared to be almost some sort of trick of the light, but there was nothing for the moonlight to reflect off of, and there didn’t seem to be enough of it to actually cause something like that.  


A moment later, the vague sound of voices came again, but a shiver ran down her spine as the faint hint of recognition rang in the back of her mind.  


“Not… expecting.”  


Anukai shook her head, blinking several times, but as she focused on the spot of light, once again, she realized that it hadn’t disappeared, but had, instead, coalesced into a more recognizable shape. Her eyes widened as she stared at the slightly transparent image of what appeared to be herself standing at the railing alongside a similar image of a dark-haired girl.  


“How so?”  


The voice immediately sent shivers down her spine as something in the back of her mind tried to say it was hers.  


“I don’t know, less murdering of children and burning of effigies?”  


Just then, the images disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, leaving the two redheads in silence on the stone platform. Anukai slowly turned to Aloy to find her staring back at the younger redhead.  


“Did you hear that?”  


“Did you see that?”  


Their eyes widened as they both swallowed nervously.  


“No… that… that’s from my…”  


Just then, the shrieking cry for help echoed out of the entrance to the palace, prompting both of them to spin toward it. Anukai’s jaw clenched tightly as she braced herself to make the jump across the gap to the entrance.  


“Wait!”  


Aloy suddenly slid before her, holding both hands out toward the younger redhead.  


“After… everything we’ve seen… this feels incredibly like a trap,” she said.  


“But if it’s not?”  


“Do you truly still believe that?”  


Anukai’s jaw clenched even tighter as she backed up a step or two before charging forward and around the older redhead, racing toward the gap between the stone dais and the palace. After launching herself into the air, she quickly realized that the gap was wider than she had expected, and she desperately stretched one leg ahead of her. A moment later, her boot landed firmly on the edge of the gap, and she found herself tilting her balance forward. Instinctually, she leaned past a vertical stance until she tucked her head and shoulders forward, falling into a roll.  


As she popped out of it and into a crouched position, she let out a heavy sigh, staring blankly at the ground ahead of her for a moment before glancing over her shoulder toward Aloy. The older redhead frowned, but began to brace herself for a similar jump. Anukai rose to her feet as Aloy charged toward the gap, arms pumping, until she also launched herself off the far side.  


Immediately, a sinking feeling appeared in Anukai’s stomach and she rushed forward. Her fears were confirmed as Aloy slammed into the palace side of the gap with her stomach, a loud grunt escaping her before she desperately scrambled to get a hold on something as she began to slide back into the open air.  


The younger redhead dove forward across the last foot or two before her hands gripped Aloy’s forearms tightly. Immediately, she felt herself tugged forward by the older redhead’s weight, but she tried to pull backward with all of her strength to offset it. The sliding began to slow as Aloy gripped Anukai’s arms tightly, in response, digging in with her elbows in an attempt to brace herself and stop the sliding.  


A moment later, however, they reached the edge of the gap, and Anukai felt her hands begin to extend over the edge of the stone surface as Aloy’s shoulders suddenly slipped below the edge. One hand quickly released the younger redhead’s arm as she gripped the very edge of the stone lip, while Anukai shifted her free hand to gripping Aloy’s other hand.  


The sliding finally stopped with Aloy hanging from the edge of the gap, both redheads panting heavily. Anukai carefully adjusted her position before locking eyes with the older redhead. They both nodded in rhythm for a moment or two before the younger redhead began to pull with all of her strength on Aloy’s arm. Slowly but surely, the older redhead was dragged up and over the ledge, until she finally rolled forward, charging into Anukai and sending them both sprawling across the stone walkway.  


The younger redhead landed on her back, arms spread to either side of her as she stared up at the night sky, breathing heavily. After several long seconds, she lifted her head to look to her right, finding Aloy lying on her stomach but in a similar pose, one cheek pressed firmly against the stone surface.  


“That… was close…” she panted.  


Anukai nodded, letting her head fall back against the stone surface for a moment or two before taking a deep breath and dragging herself to a sitting position. Aloy had propped herself up on her elbows, hands flat on the ground before her.  


“For the record,” the older redhead panted, “I said this was a bad idea from the start.”  


“I know,” Anukai huffed, shaking her head. “I’ll… be more careful.”  


Aloy let out a short, dry laugh as both women began to pull themselves to their feet. Once they were both standing, Aloy pat her hands aggressively on her skirt, while Anukai clapped them together before her.  


“Okay… so… former palace of the Shadow Carja,” Aloy sighed, glancing up at the tall structure beside them. “Ready?”  


Anukai nodded, turning to lead the way into the structure, only for Aloy to throw one arm before her, stopping the girl in her tracks.  


“I’ll go first, this time.”  


The younger redhead’s jaw worked tensely for several moments before she begrudgingly gestured ahead into the darkened doorway before them. Aloy’s arm fell to her side, once again, as she took a deep breath and drew her bow, nocking an arrow to it before slowly making her way into the opening. Anukai followed suit, grabbing her bow and holding an arrow at the ready.  


Immediately upon entering the building, she found that it was even darker than any place they had been in the city, thus far. Thankfully, the Focus’s outlining feature still continued to work, showing her where the walls and a set of stairs directly ahead of her were. Her gaze was drawn to the columns that seemed to line the room. She couldn’t see any features on their surfaces, but the shapes seemed to indicate strange, almost machine-like patterns had been carved into them.  


As she pressed onward, she could have sworn that several of them seemed to move, stretching like some kind of long, powerful arms toward her, until with a blink they had snapped back into place. She quickly focused on the outline of Aloy ahead of her, taking a slow, deep breath as they approached an enormous archway. Just through the opening, she could see the beginnings of the orange glow that they had seen from the outside, softly pulsating and flickering against the walls of the room beyond.  


As they stepped through the archway, almost immediately, the room around them seemed to open up, revealing it to be a large, circular chamber with a slightly raised platform in the center, and an intimidating stone structure to their left that towered over the rest of the space. The glow appeared to be coming from a fire in the center of the large platform in the center, which bore what appeared to be a large campfire.  


Aloy and Anukai drew their bows at the ready as they slowly began to make their way along the lowered walkway beside the platform, each of them constantly scanning with the tips of their arrows. As they ascended the short steps to reach the same level as the platform, Anukai glanced out the series of open doorways to her right, noting what appeared to be another set of stairs leading down to a large platform that jutted from the edge of the palace, although half of the actual platform at the end appeared to be missing.  


Something about the scene outside caused her to pause, but she couldn’t place what had made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end before the sound of something clattering to the floor caused her to jump and whirl around.  


Aloy was standing behind her, at the edge of the platform, her bow and the arrow that had been nocked on it at her feet as she stood completely still, staring straight ahead. Just as Anukai began to move toward her cautiously, another voice echoed throughout the room.  


“Help…”  


It was most definitely not the same, wailing cry they had heard thus far, but almost a strangled, croaking sound. Anukai’s grip on her bow grew tighter as she stepped up to Aloy, opening her mouth to ask her why she had dropped her weapon, but the words caught in her throat when she saw what sat on the other side of the platform.  


A single bed was pushed up against the tall, stone structure, a single figure lying in it with one hand outstretched toward them. Anukai tried desperately to remember if that had been there earlier, but her thoughts didn’t want to cooperate as her heart beat began to pound in her ears.  


“Help…”  


Aloy began to move around the fire, as if in a trance, even despite Anukai’s hissed attempt to stop her. The younger redhead adjusted her grip on her bow before cautiously following after her, head turning to scan the edges of the circular room. As they reached the far side of the platform and the strange bed, Anukai scanned over its occupant.  


The figure appeared to be a woman, her face pale and gaunt with dark circles under her eyes. A cloth was wrapped over her head, starting at her forehead, but Anukai couldn’t make out her hair underneath it. The woman’s outstretched hand shook, seemingly from the exertion of even lifting it from her side.  


“Help…” she croaked, once again.  


Suddenly, a choked sound escaped Aloy and Anukai whirled toward her, expecting to find her beset by some kind of assailant, but they were still as alone as they had been, although the other woman’s face was buried in her hands as her head shook slowly.  


“Aloy…”  


Anukai froze as the strange woman croaked the other redhead’s name, prompting her to glance between them.  


“You… you know her?” she asked, stepping toward the woman beside her and reaching to put one hand on her shoulder.  


As she did, Aloy jumped, lifting her head from her hands as she looked over toward her. In that moment, Anukai froze, as well. The redhead standing before her now appeared to be a mirror image reflection of herself, not the matured woman she had entered the city with earlier. The girl before her’s eyes were red as tears ran down her cheeks, but she slowly nodded.  


The Banuk girl continued to stare back at the redhead before her as she slowly turned and approached the bed, holding one hand out toward the woman’s, as well. As their fingers met, the other woman attempted to close her grip around the redhead’s, which she obliged by sliding her hand more firmly into reach of the figure’s.  


“P-please…” the strange woman said shakily, “get me out of here.”  


“I want to… so badly…”  


A deep shiver ran down Anukai’s spine at the sound of the other redhead’s voice, her mind telling her even more so that it was hers than it had during the strange light-figure incident outside.  


“So take… take me with you… please…”  


“I-I… I can’t…”  


“Please!”  


The sudden cry from the woman was most definitely closer to the wailing sound they had heard the entire time, prompting Anukai to close her eyes tightly for a moment before looking away as she opened them, once again. As she did, she froze, noting new shapes had appeared at the edge of the room, prompting her to draw her bow to a firing position.  


“Please, Aloy!” the woman cried again, but Anukai kept her eyes on the edges fo the room.  


The shapes seemed reminiscent of human forms, although she noted how the eyes seemed to glint and glow slightly in the fire light, while the rest of their bodies remained dark like shadows.  


“I can’t, Petra!”  


Anukai froze for a moment before whirling around to face the two women behind her, eyes darting between the look-alike in Nora clothing and the gaunt, sickly woman in the bed before her.  


“You… she…?”  


The redhead at the bed lifted her gaze to Anukai for a moment before the woman in the bed suddenly tugged on her arm even more forcefully, eliciting a surprised yelp from her.  


“You have to!”  


The woman began to repeat the phrase over and over as the redhead desperately tried to pull her hand away, but seemed unable. As Anukai watched, she noted that the woman in the bed’s eyes had begun to grow glassy, before turning a dark color, the skin on her face stretching even more tightly over her skull as each second passed. Finally, the redhead was able to pull her hand back with a sudden jerking motion, but it was accompanied by a loud, spine-tingling crack.  


A moment later, the look-alike screamed as she stared down at the arm in her hand that had now come loose from the figure in the bed. Anukai’s breath caught in her throat as she watched the look-alike pry the hand’s grip from her own, letting the separated appendage fall to the floor as all semblance of skin and flesh finally seemed to disappear from it, leaving only the off-white bones, which quickly fell apart and scattered across the stone floor as they landed.  


Anukai’s gaze flicked back to the bed, only to find a set of skeletal remains on it, as well. A moment later, another voice called out in the room.  


“You left so many here.”  


Anukai quickly whirled around, drawing her bow, once again, as noted the figures had begun to press forward toward the circular platform where they stood, their bodies finally beginning to gain color and shape. She quickly noted what appeared to be various Carja in blood-stained silks, some with chunks of flesh missing from their faces or torsos, while others were drenched in blood from wounds that crossed their faces and arms.  


“And you walked away.”  


Anukai’s hands were beginning to shake as she tried to hold her bow steady, but the figures had begun to climb over the edge of the platform, advancing ever closer and revealing even more in their wake. She dared to glance over toward the look-alike to find that she had scrambled back to the bow and arrow Aloy had dropped earlier, grabbing them from the floor and holding them at the ready, as Anukai was.  


Suddenly, the figures all stopped advancing at once, remaining several feet away from the redheads as they moved to stand almost back-to-back before the fire in the center of the room. After several long seconds, Anukai began to look back over her shoulder toward the other girl before something made her pause. The fire beside them seemed to be changing, somehow, growing narrower and retreating from the edges of its base.  


Both redheads seemed to notice at the same time and began to back away from it, although they continued to keep wary eyes on the figures around them.  


“You took… what I made…”  


Anukai’s eyes widened as she realized that the fire seemed to be taking on the vague shape of a person, and she slowly began to shake her head.  


“To heal the world…”  


The Banuk girl’s breath caught in her throat, once again, as the image of the fire seemed to coalesce into a complete shape of a person, and as the fire-figure began to step from the bonfire, the flames, themselves, began to dim and flicker out, revealing actual details.  


“And you used them… to cut a fucking hole in it.”  


Anukai’s hands slipped on the bow in her hands slightly from the cold sweat on her palms as she stared back at the image of the older redhead that looked so much like the Aloy she had known, but dressed in a set of strange, white-and-grey clothes.  


“I-I…” the look-alike beside her stammered, but the fire-woman cut her off.  


“Do they respect you, now?”  


She raised her arms to either side of her, glancing around at the figures at the edge of the platform.  


“The world doesn’t tend to question your will when you shower it in blood.”  


Suddenly, the look-alike beside Anukai raised her bow, and she glanced over to see the redhead with her arrow drawn back, but the weapon visibly shook in her hands. Anukai glanced back toward the fire-woman as she began to advance, her arms falling by her sides, once again, until she stopped just before the younger redheads. The older redhead slowly placed one hand on the tip of the arrow on the look-alike’s bow, lowering the weapon without resistance before grinning and reaching one hand toward the redhead’s face in an almost soft gesture.  


“My little angel of death.”  


With a cry of rage, the look-alike suddenly shoved the fire woman back, causing her to stagger for a step or two, before she raised her bow and loosed the arrow firmly into the center of her forehead. The fire-woman recoiled from the impact, but didn’t immediately crumple. Instead, she glanced up toward the arrow protruding from her head before grinning and reaching up to break off the shaft, glancing down at it in her hand for a moment before looking back up at the younger redheads, the blood from the wound already running down her nose and toward her lips.  


She didn’t say another word, however the figures at the edge of the platform began to move forward, once again, all of them with their gazes firmly locked on the younger redheads. Anukai lifted her bow, loosing an arrow at one of the nearest figures, a man in crimson armor that looked very similar to the Carja guards she had seen in Meridian. As soon as he fell to the ground, another figure took his place, a young woman with half of her jaw missing.  


“Don’t bother!” the look-alike shouted, suddenly grabbing Anukai’s arm and spinning her around. “This way!”  


The other redhead suddenly drew a spear from behind her back, gripping it in both hands before swinging it wildly at the figures before them. The group parted slightly, allowing just enough room for the look-alike to yank Anukai through the opening and toward the doorways she had seen earlier. They raced down the steps from the circular room toward the broken platform she had seen earlier, skidding to a stop at the edge of the remaining, non-destroyed section. Anukai glanced over the edge to see that they were just over the edge of the Sun Ring, above the pile of armor she had seen earlier, but a good thirty yards or so above it.  


She turned back to the look-alike to find her also looking over the edge, her jaw set firmly.  


“There’s nowhere to go!” Anukai said, a hint of desperation in her voice.  


“There is, but…”  


The Banuk girl began to shake her head, stepping away from the look-alike.  


“No, I-I’m not…”  


“You won’t be able to get back through them!” the look-alike said, whirling toward her as she gestured toward the advancing horde of walking corpses.  


“They want you, not me,” Anukai spat, taking a step away from her.  


The look-alike stared back at her with an expression somewhere between disbelief and betrayal just before the first line of the advancing figures stepped off the last step and onto the flat portion of the platform with them.  


“If we…”  


The look-alike glanced around desperately for a moment or two before she was forced to turn back to the figures, gripping her spear tightly. Even as Anukai backed against what remained of a banister at the edge of the platform, one of the figures suddenly grabbed her by her tunic, prompting her to let out a scream in surprise.  


“You… her…” the man growled, his voice containing a strange gurgling, airy sound as she noted a trail of blood leading from a hole in the side of his neck, “the same.”  


“No!”  


Anukai tried to shake him free, but his grip was too strong, and even when she tried drawing her knife and plunging it into his shoulder, followed by the side of his neck, it did nothing to stop him as he lifted her feet from the ground, carrying her toward the edge of the platform beside her.  


“We’re… not…!”  


Just then, she felt the man give one final shove and a sinking feeling appeared in her stomach as the ground disappeared from under her. The edge of the platform quickly rose up past her as her arms and legs flailed wildly, as if somehow searching for a purchase on thin air. Her body began to rotate in the air slightly as the wind whipped by her, whistling loudly in her ears.  


She was vaguely able to see the image of the look-alike falling just behind her before her head tilted back and saw the pile of discarded armor only feet away.  


Just as her mouth opened to scream, she reached the ground.  


A split-second later, she found herself pitching forward, a loud, heaving gasp tearing at her throat as she felt a feeling of nausea flare in her stomach for a moment. At first, all she could see was darkness, and her heart rate began to skyrocket further, only for her vision to seemingly clear a moment later.  


She blinked rapidly, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, before she was able to make out a shape before her.  


“Hey…”  


Several blinks later, she was able to discern a face outlined in silvery moonlight. She focused on it for several seconds before recognition sank in and she sighed, wiping at her eyes, yet again.  


“It’s your turn for watch, but… what’s wrong?” Ikrie asked softly.  


Anukai muttered something about a nightmare, glancing down to note how her blanket had seemingly been thrown aside in her sudden waking.  


“Hey,” the dark-haired girl said quietly, but more forcefully, “we’ve talked about this. Tell me.”  


Anukai took a deep breath, continuing to gather herself and rise to a standing position. Ikrie followed suit, remaining directly before the redhead so she couldn’t move past her. Anukai put a hand on her shoulder and nodded toward the nearby dune where the trails of footsteps from the others going to and from watch led. The dark-haired girl nodded and waited as Anukai grabbed her equipment before leading the way to the top of the small hill.  


As soon as they sat at the top, the redhead spared a glance toward the distant silhouette of Sunfall, a strong shiver running down her spine, but she noted that there was now no longer a glow coming from the top of the palace.  


“What’s wrong?” Ikrie asked softly, maneuvering so she was seated close enough that their knees nearly touched.  


“Nightmare,” Anukai began, her voice still baring the hints of grogginess.  


“I know, but… what about? Are you okay?”  


“Well, physically fine,” she sighed. “It… I don’t know what it was, but…”  


She glanced toward Sunfall, once again, before nodding.  


“It was in there.”  


Ikrie glanced toward the city, as well, for a few moments before turning back to Anukai.  


“What happened?”  


“A… a lot…” she sighed. “I think… it started like this, kind of, but Aloy was on watch…”  


She briefly explained the dream as best she could, but by the end, Ikrie’s face had contorted into concern, prompting Anukai to squirm slightly under it.  


“That’s… a lot,” she said softly. “Do you think it’s nerves? I didn’t sleep particularly well, either.”  


“I hope so…” Anukai sighed, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. “I’m not going to be able to sleep again, tonight, I know.”  


Ikrie nodded slowly before her face broke into a small smile.  


“Well, good thing you have last watch.”  


Anukai laughed softly, as well, nodding.  


“Guess so.”  


Ikrie glanced back toward her bedroll for a moment before sighing and rising to her feet. The redhead watched her go until she had knelt down beside her sleeping spot. Anukai sighed, glancing out across the open ground around them, searching for any signs of motion amidst the sand. A moment later, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching and glanced back toward the camp to find Ikrie approaching, once again, blanket in hand. The redhead raised her eyebrows slightly as the dark-haired girl fell onto the ground beside her and slid up to Anukai’s side, turning so her back was pressed against the redhead’s shoulder and letting out a sigh.  


“I think I’m going to stay up here with you, if that’s all right.”  


The redhead paused for a moment, swallowing heavily before nodding.  


“Yeah, sure.”  


“Good, because I was going to, regardless of what you said.”  


Anukai laughed softly before adjusting her position slightly, feeling Ikrie shift, accordingly. After several long moments, the redhead cleared her throat.  


“That position doesn’t seem exceedingly comfortable.”  


“I’ll be fine.”  


“I mean… did you want to… lay down?”  


Ikrie remained silent for a moment before turning to look over her shoulder toward the redhead. Anukai simply raised her eyebrows slightly before the dark-haired girl shifted her position, pulling away from the redhead’s shoulder. A moment later, she had shifted to the side slightly, stretching her legs out before leaning her head back until it rested on Anukai’s leg. The redhead shifted her position, stretching her legs out before her, as well, prompting Ikrie to push herself further up onto her lap, before both of them finally fell still.  


Anukai glanced down at Ikrie to find her looking up at her with half-lidded eyes, a soft smile on her face. The redhead returned it before the dark-haired girl yawned deeply, fully closing her eyes as she adjusted her position, pulling the blanket over herself. As they fell into silence, once again, Anukai leaned back on one hand behind her, while the other absentmindedly found its way toward Ikrie’s head.  


At the last second, she paused, realizing what she was doing, and bit her lip. Finally, with a slow, deep breath, she closed the gap, letting her hand slowly run over the top of Ikrie’s head, brushing some of her hair to one side, with it. She swore the edges of the dark-haired girl’s lips pulled up slightly, in response, but she didn’t say anything or open her eyes.  


Anukai contined the motion, slowly and evenly, as she felt Ikrie’s body grow less and less tense, until she was clearly fully asleep, as her head had lolled to one side and her breathing came slow and steady. As the redhead glanced down at her sleeping companion, she felt the last traces of the tense, constricting feeling that had bound her chest since waking melt away, replaced instead with something much warmer and freeing.  


The rest of her watch seemed to pass quickly, the sky quickly lightening from total darkness to a deep indigo as she found her gaze transfixed on the bright pinks and oranges on the far horizon. Memories of watching similar sunrises from the edges of icy, mountain perches beside the same dark-haired huntress drifted through the back of her mind, and she found a small smile pulling at her lips, once again.  


Finally, her attention was drawn from the lightening sky by the sound of motion from her right. As she glanced over, she saw one of the other figures of their party beginning to stir. She watched in silence for a moment or two until a head of red hair appeared above the blanket, followed soon after by an arm as Aloy pushed herself to a sitting position. After rubbing at her face for a moment or two, her hands fell into her lap, and her gaze almost immediately landed on Anukai.  


Their eyes locked for a few moments, something strange passing over Aloy’s features as her brow knit. Anukai found her heart rate accelerating, once again, as she swallowed heavily.  


There was something contemplative in the older redhead’s gaze, but also something… else.  


Like a familiarity.  


Like knowing.  


Just then, Anukai felt Ikrie shift slightly and glanced down, breaking her eye contact with Aloy. The dark-haired girl had rolled onto her side, at some point in the night, her face nearly buried in Anukai’s knee, which prompted a slight grin from the redhead. She gently reached forward, running her fingers through the head of dark hair before Ikrie slowly rolled onto her back, once again, arching it with a groan. When she settled, once again, her hands folded over her stomach, she looked up at Anukai with a grin.  


“Morning,” the dark-haired girl muttered groggily.  


“Looks like you slept better,” Anukai commented.  


“I did,” Ikrie nodded, yawning.  


“Glad I could provide.”  


The dark-haired girl laughed before reaching up to run her hands over her face, rubbing at her eyes in particular.  


“Seems like it’s time to get packed up and going,” Anukai said. “Other two are waking up.”  


Ikrie nodded as she let her hands fall away from her face. She began to pull herself into a sitting position as Anukai stretched her legs, grimacing slightly at the soreness that had set into them, but she had barely dared to move during the night while Ikrie slept. With a sigh, she glanced over at the dark-haired girl beside her, rubbing at her left leg with one hand to try to resume the normal blood flow.  


As she did, she found Ikrie looking back at her with a still somewhat sleepy expression, although a grin still tugged at her lips.  


“What?”  


The dark-haired shook her head before suddenly leaning in, placing her lips against the redhead’s. Once again, she felt her own part slightly under them, the warm feeling from earlier blooming in her chest, once again, but much stronger. After a few moments, they pulled away, both girls with grins firmly fixed on their features.  


“Thanks,” Ikrie said softly.  


Anukai simply laughed softly, nodding in response.  


With that, they collected their things and dragged themselves to their feet. Anukai moved much more stiffly as they made their way back down the sand dune to the small camp, where Talanah was just sitting up on her bedroll, as well.  


“Good morning,” Ikrie said as they approached.  


Talanah muttered something that was entirely incomprehensible as Aloy smirked.  


“Give her a minute… or a few.”  


Talanah made a sound that seemed as if it were in mocking, which only deepened the older redhead’s smirk, but she still moved beside her and placed a kiss on the crown of her head.  


“Grumble all you want, but I know you, Tal.”  


With a grin, Anukai knelt down beside her bedroll, beginning to pack her things, for travel, once again. By the time she had secured her bedroll into its more compact, rolled form, Talanah seemed much more awake, and was beginning to work on hers, as well.  


“Hey, let’s get the Striders ready,” Aloy said, gesturing for Anukai to follow her.  


The younger redhead’s face creased in confusion for a moment, but she ultimately shrugged and rose to her feet, grabbing her bedroll and following after Aloy. As they approached the small herd of Striders that had begun to wander slightly in the night, the older redhead spared a glance toward her and cleared her throat softly.  


“How’d you sleep?”  


Anukai paused as she reached for the wires of her own Strider, something about her question and behavior causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end.  


The younger redhead slowly turned back to Aloy to find her also standing beside her Strider, a similarly unreadable expression on her face as she had seen earlier. Several long moments of silence passed before Anukai swallowed heavily.  


“Not great.”  


Aloy paused for a moment before slowly nodding in response, visibly chewing the inside of her cheek slightly as she turned back to the Strider before her.  


“Well, hopefully we can take it somewhat easier today.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened.


	11. To Parts Unkown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's Monday.
> 
> Trying to finish everything this week was a bit of a struggle. There's been... a lot of other things on my mind.
> 
> Somehow accidentally wrote 16,000 words though. Breaking personal records. The first half was written while I was sick and rather out of it in the beginning of the week, and the rest was basically written between Saturday night and Sunday morning. I was up a little late.
> 
> Anyhow...

By the time the redheads had corralled the Striders back to their small camp, Talanah had broken out some of their food and water canteens. She handed one to Aloy as Ikrie passed hers to Anukai, each of the redheads taking them and quickly downing a good amount. With a heavy sigh, the younger redhead placed the cork back in her canteen, passing it back to Talanah.  


“So… we keep heading south?” she said.  


“Until we get to a pass, yeah,” the Carja woman said, nodding.  


“Should be about half a day’s ride from here at the pace we’ve set,” Aloy said.  


“But… we could set a faster one?”  


The other three glanced over at Ikrie as her eyes widened.  


“What?”  


“I mean… she has a point,” Aloy said, gesturing to the dark-haired Banuk.  


“Taking the Striders for an early morning sprint?” Talanah replied, raising one eyebrow.  


“Make up for lost time,” the older redhead shrugged. “We did leave in a hurry for a reason.”  


Talanah shrugged, glancing over at the younger girls across from her.  


“You two ready?”  


They nodded, prompting her to smirk as she gathered their food supplies and secured them away, once again.  


“Guess we’ll see.”  


With that, the women made their way over to their Striders, climbing atop to a chorus of sighs and groans. Once everyone was situated, Aloy led the group out of the small valley they had slept in and back toward the worn path they had followed the day before. As soon as they were all gathered on it, Aloy glanced back, a devilish smirk on her features.  


“You ready for this?”  


“So… just basically goad them more?” Anukai asked, glancing down at her Strider.  


“Yes, but also, you’ll probably want to lean forward a bit. Balancing on your saddle there is going to be key,” Talanah explained.  


“My what?”  


“The leather thing you’re sitting on.”  


She glanced down at the seat, nodding as she let out an “ah”, patting the front side of it.  


“Don’t accidentally hit your head against its neck, though. That can knock you right out, and you don’t want to fall off a Strider at full speed.”  


Anukai’s lips drew into a thin line as she glanced over at Ikrie, who was suddenly also bearing a nervous expression.  


“Ready, girls?” Aloy called, adjusting her grip on her Strider’s wires.  


They nodded, prompting Aloy to glance toward Talanah once more before turning to face forward.  


“Yah!”  


Suddenly, the older redhead kicked her heels into the Strider’s sides, prompting it to race forward, quickly gaining speed as she took off along the trail. Talanah glanced back at the girls before waving for them to go ahead.  


“I’ll bring up the back, just in case.”  


They nodded before exchanging one last glance and facing after the quickly disappearing redhead. Anukai gripped the wires of her Strider tightly before leaning forward and digging her heels into its side, as she had seen Aloy do. The machine jumped in surprise, but quickly began to move, picking up speed as the ground began to whip by her on both sides. The wind tugged at her hair as a smile began to form on her lips, her grip shifting on the wires as she leaned forward slightly, feeling the worst of the wind whip across her head and down across her back.  


The feeling that quickly took ahold in her stomach at the sensation of the world flying by her quickly spread to fill her entire body, Anukai’s grin finally breaking into full-on laughter as she kept her grip on the Strider tight, but urged it to not slow down. Within minutes, it felt like she had crossed terrain that would have taken her hours if she had walked, the red rocks of the mountain range that wrapped behind Sunfall continuing to fly by her on the right, while the river they had crossed the previous afternoon continued to wind to her left, leaving on her the single strip of beige, almost white, sand between them.  


Her gaze locked on the dusty cloud that rose ahead of her, while she urged the Strider onward after it, attempting to close the gap between herself and Aloy. After a minute or two, she found that she was actually closing the gap, and before long, she had drawn even with the older redhead. As she glanced over, the portion of her hair that had come loose from its braid flew in her face, making it nearly impossible to make out the other woman, but she could just grasp the basic impression of her shape.  


With a smirk she turned back to the path ahead of her, shaking her hair out of her face, once again, so that she could focus on the trail. After continuing on her path for what felt like another half hour or so, a voice suddenly appeared in her right ear, nearly prompting her to jerk the wires of the Strider in surprise.  


“Slow it down for a minute, kid.”  


She carefully eased off on the Strider, pulling back on its wires until the machine slowed to a walking speed much more like the one they had adopted the day before. With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head to try to clear her hair, once again, she glanced back to find Aloy also slowing her Strider to a walk a few yards behind her, grinning.  


“Fun, huh?” she called.  


Anukai nodded, laughing.  


“We’re close to the pass, already, though,” she said. “Should probably wait for the other two… also, the Striders may be machines, but they do get worn out if you push them too hard for too long.”  


The younger redhead nodded, watching as Aloy pat the side of her mount’s neck before doing the same to hers. The Strider shook its head, letting out a huffing sound, but otherwise didn’t react to her touch. A few moments later, the sound of charging footsteps began to approach and Anukai glanced back along the trail to find Ikrie and Talanah approaching, also slowing their striders to a stop. As they did, Anukai and Ikrie locked eyes and both began to grin broadly.  


“Well, that knocked a quarter of our day off,” Talanah commented, sighing as she straightened up on her Strider.  


“Hey, we wanted to make up time,” Aloy replied, grinning before turning and gesturing to a section of the mountain range beside them. “Pass should be just up there.”  


They all nodded before falling into a familiar formation with the older women leading and the Banuk girls bringing up the rear. Within only a few minutes, Aloy turned the group off the worn path, leading the way onto the loose sand beside them. The Striders seemed to struggle slightly more with the loose-packed ground, but ultimately didn’t stop as they pressed onward toward the mountain range ahead of them.  


At first, Anukai frowned as she scanned over the towering rock formations, not spying anywhere that actually looked like a pass, but as they passed a tall, freestanding tower of rock, they suddenly found themselves at the entrance to a narrow passage that seemed to cut straight through the mountain range. The group came to a stop as they all eyed the rocky crevice, Anukai particularly noting how it seemed to grow dark after taking a turn a hundred yards ahead, or so.  


“Fastest way through,” Aloy said, glancing back at the others.  


“I’m assuming this is uncharted,” Talanah replied, shifting her position on her mount.  


“From what I have been able to find, yes,” the voice of GAIA suddenly chimed in their ears, prompting Anukai to jump. “Surface data of the region revealed the location of this pass, however it does not appear on any Carja maps.”  


“Well, that’s inspiring,” the dark-haired woman said.  


“We’ll be fine.”  


With that, Aloy spurred her Strider onward, leading the way into the pass. Talanah watched her go for a moment or two before glancing back at the younger girls and sighing.  


“Stick close.”  


With that, the rest of the group followed the older redhead, making their way deeper into the mountain. The rocks to either side of them appeared incredibly smooth, twisting and turning in odd, undulating shapes as they made their way onward. Eventually, the path narrowed enough that they were forced to move in single file, with Anukai taking up the rearmost position.  


As she had seen from the entrance, the path began to turn to the left, and the bright sunlight that had burned down on them all morning quickly disappeared, leaving them in a strange, twilight that cast the rocks around them in shades of purples and blues. Almost immediately, the temperature began to fall, as well, prompting a shiver to rack Anukai’s frame. A smirk tugged at her lips when she noticed Ikrie react similarly, only for the dark-haired girl to quickly try to pass it off.  


As they rounded yet another sharp twist in the path, the younger redhead carefully held one hand out toward the nearby rock wall, running her palm along its surface and marveling at how smooth it felt, almost even more so than it had looked.  


“Far cry from the mountains in the Cut, huh?” she called, prompting Ikrie to glance over her shoulder, brow knit in confusion before she noticed Anukai’s hand on the wall and followed suit.  


“Definitely…”  


Although the narrow, winding path through the solid rock of the mountain hadn’t initially prompted much concern from Anukai, the longer they spent following the crevice combined with the constant realization of just how far over their heads the mountains stretched was starting to make the hair on the back of her neck stand up. A few times, her legs brushed the walls as they passed particularly narrow points, and the unsettling feeling in her stomach only heightened.  


Suddenly, she saw a chain of motion from ahead of her that ended with Ikrie holding one hand up, seemingly in a gesture to get Anukai to stop, so the redhead brought her Strider to a halt.  


“What’s going on?”  


Ikrie craned her neck to look ahead of them for a moment before turning back to Anukai.  


“We’re getting off.”  


“What? Why?”  


The dark-haired girl glanced back toward the front of the group just before Anukai’s Focus suddenly chimed in her ear.  


“The path gets really narrow up here,” Aloy’s voice explained. “We’ll have to walk and lead the Striders behind us.”  


A shiver ran down Anukai’s spine at the implication, but she obliged and slid from atop her mount, carefully taking a position in front of it as she held some of its wires in one hand. She glanced back at its glowing, blue eye for a moment before beginning to lead it after Ikrie’s ahead of her. As Aloy had explained, the walls of the path began to press further and further inward, forcing Anukai to continuously switch hands with which she was holding the Strider’s wires, wiping the other on her tunic as she did.  


As they began to round yet another curve, she noted that she could see the beginnings of a soft, yellow glow on the walls around it, and forced the fluttering, tense feeling in her stomach down as she pressed onward. As she rounded the corner, she heard the soft scraping of the Strider’s metal sides on the walls of the crevice, and an uncontrollable shiver wracked her entire body.  


As soon as she had passed the center of the turn, however, her eyes locked on the tall sliver of light that extended from the top of Ikrie’s Strider to far above their heads. She pressed forward insistently, staying as close to the machine ahead of her as she dared, until it suddenly came to a stop a few yards before the opening.  


“Why’d we stop?” she asked, trying to keep the speed and urgency of her tone as controlled as possible.  


Ikrie’s head appeared over the top of her Strider.  


“Looks like getting out of this crevice is going to be a bit of a squeeze.”  


Anukai’s heart sank into her stomach, but she nodded, adjusting her grip on the Strider’s wires, yet again. Slowly, their procession moved forward, once again, all while the redhead was acutely aware of the walls angling closer and closer together. Just then, Ikrie’s Strider came to a short stop and Anukai recoiled in surprise.  


Mutterings from ahead of the machine echoed back to the redhead as she tried to crane her neck to see what was wrong. A few moments later, the Strider continued to press forward, although a quiet, metallic screeching filled the air. With one last, final scrape, the Strider slipped forward, revealing the opening out of the narrow crevice.  


Anukai breathed a sigh of relief before leading her Strider quickly into the opening.  


“Wait!”  


Just then, her mount came to a short stop behind her, prompting her arm to tug on the machine’s wires. The Strider let out what seemed to be an irritated huff as she whirled around. The sides of the crevice were just narrow enough that her Strider had become somewhat lodged between them, seemingly not able to move easily on its own.  


“Oh come on…”  


“You’ve got to be gentle and careful,” Talanah said, suddenly appearing at Anukai’s side and offering to take the wires.  


The younger redhead quickly relented, taking a step or two back as the Carja woman gently began to coax the stuck machine forward, Aloy joining her a moment later to help give some extra encouragement by pulling on the wires. Finally, with a similar screeching as when Ikrie’s Strider had cleared the gap, Anukai’s mount slipped free, hopping forward a few steps before coming to a stop with another, seemingly irritated huff.  


“There we go…” Aloy sighed, releasing the wires and glancing over at Anukai. “Got a bit tighter than I expected, there.”  


The younger redhead nodded, attempting to laugh, but it sounded incredibly forced, and she quickly tried to pass it off by brushing some of her loose hair back out of her face. Aloy regarded her with a curious expression for another moment or two, but didn’t press further before clearing her throat and glancing around at the others.  


“Okay, well, we made it,” she said, gesturing to the open expanse of sand that looked nearly identical to the one they had just left. “Welcome to the Forbidden West.”  


They all glanced out at the rather unassuming terrain of sand, dust, and scorching sunlight, before turning back to the older redhead, who sighed heavily.  


“I never said all of it was that exciting.”  


“No, but with a name like ‘the Forbidden West,’” Anukai chimed in, “I would have expected something a little more… different.”  


“There’s a whole section of the continent you’ve never seen,” the older redhead shot back. “Give it a chance.”  


“Continent?”  


“The… the big land mass we’re standing on,” she tried to explain, but eventually waved dismissively. “Doesn’t matter. We’re eventually heading toward the coast, but first we need to begin heading north.”  


With that, the group mounted their Striders, once again, and set off into the brown expanse of the open landscape before them. Almost as soon as they fell into a loose group, Anukai’s Focus chimed in her ear, yet again.  


“Initial tests indicate that you are still well within my communication range,” GAIA’s voice chimed in, “and should remain so for some time.”  


“Glad to hear it,” Aloy replied, laughing quietly. “How’s everything going back in Meridian? You been able to tell what happened with Vanasha and Avad?”  


“Although it is not typically my place to monitor the communications and conversations of others with whom I am not directly interacting, I have attempted to retain any that contain the two individuals you mentioned,” GAIA said.  


“And…?”  


“To my knowledge, Vanasha kept her word to you, and did not tell Avad that you spoke prior to leaving.”  


“Really?”  


Aloy glanced over at Talanah, who raised her eyebrows slightly in return.  


“He did not issue any sort of order or request to follow your path, as well,” GAIA continued, “although there was one individual who was particularly adamant that he should.”  


Aloy’s body visibly tensed as Anukai swore she could hear her teeth grinding from several yards away.  


“I feel like I know, but… who was it, GAIA?”  


Silence followed for several long seconds before the light-woman’s voice returned.  


“Erend.”  


Aloy let out a single, loud laugh before shaking her head.  


“I was right.”  


“What was his reasoning?” Talanah asked, frowning slightly as she glanced over at Aloy.  


“That—”  


“You know what,” Aloy interrupted, “do you just have the recording you could send us?”  


“Are you sure about that?” the Carja woman replied, her frown deepening.  


“Yeah,” the older redhead nodded. “I want to hear exactly what he had to say.”  


A few moments later, another chime sounded in Anukai’s ear and she heard the sound of oddly distorted voices begin playing.  


“—just saying that as a security advisor to your _council_ —”  


“Erend, I understand,” Avad’s voice cut in, his tone firm but not raised, “however I do not share the same opinion.”  


“If those two took off with her—daughter, look-alike, whatever—in such a hurry, it can’t be anything good.”  


“Erend, once again—”  


“Hell, send Nasara and Bekan, I’m sure they could catch up in no time.”  


“Erend, I am not sending them!”  


Anukai recoiled slightly at the sound of the closest she had heard Avad come to shouting, but the deep rumble of Erend’s voice quickly came to a halt.  


“I trust that if they felt the need, they would have asked,” he continued in a much calmer tone. “While I do feel concern at only a party of four venturing into unknown territory, I do see the benefits, as well.”  


The sound of Erend letting out a short, dry laugh followed soon after.  


“If she gets any of them killed, too, just know… I told you.”  


Anukai instantly stiffened as Talanah’s head whirled toward Aloy. The older redhead was staring straight ahead, her jaw clenched as her hands wrung slowly and tensely around the wires of her Strider.  


“That is enough, Erend,” Avad’s voice cut in sharply. “You are dismissed.”  


A moment later, the strange, watery sound that had accompanied the entire conversation disappeared in Anukai’s ear, leaving the four of them in a heavy silence, only broken by the sound of the Strider’s hooves plodding in a steady rhythm on the sand beneath them.  


“Aloy…”  


Talanah began to maneuver her Strider closer to the older redhead, who simply shook her head, hanging it forward for a moment before her shoulders visibly rose and fell with a sigh.  


“So he thinks I’m going to get someone killed,” she spat, lifting her head, once again, “but suggests sending the king’s daughter and his own son after us?”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged glances for a moment before focusing on the older women ahead of them, once again.  


“I don’t understand his reasoning, either,” Talanah said, shaking her head, “but it clearly wasn’t rational… you know it, I know it, and Avad clearly knew it.”  


“And yet he’s still a fucking security advisor!”  


Aloy’s sudden outburst prompted the other three to recoil slightly in surprise.  


“W-well… there’s more than just us in the city…”  


“You don’t need to fucking defend him!” Aloy snapped, whirling toward the Carja woman beside her. “He’s been a real bastard since I helped save his life!”  


“Aloy, I know…”  


“I sat there, for _weeks_ , doing what GAIA said, administering whatever she came up with, making sure he was okay, making sure that he _survived_ , and he’s ungrateful?!”  


The older redhead’s voice had already reached what appeared to be its maximum volume, but the pitch continued to rise as Anukai found her eyes widening.  


“Aloy…”  


“He should be fucking dead, not Petra!”  


A shiver ran down Anukai’s spine as images of the gaunt, pale woman in the bed from the night before flashed before her, but they were quickly pushed out of her mind by the sound of pounding hooves. When she glanced up, once again, she found that Aloy’s Strider had suddenly charged forward, Talanah’s not far behind, but both Banuk girls were quickly being left in their wake.  


“Uh…” Ikrie managed, exchanging a glance with Anukai.  


“I don’t know about you, but I don’t know where we’re going,” the redhead shot back.  


“Right.”  


With that, they both spurred their Striders on, as well, rushing to catch up with the older women, or at the very least keep them within a visible distance. Almost immediately, Anukai found herself ducking her head to try to protect her eyes from the blowing dust left by the preceding Striders. Soon after, she felt her balance shift dangerously and she panicked, pulling back on her Strider’s wires and slowing its pace dramatically.  


Finally, when it had returned to a slower, walking pace, she dared to release the wires with one hand and wiped at her eyes, blinking carefully to check if any sand remained in them. Finally, once she had managed to wipe most of the offending dust away, she glanced up to find Ikrie bringing her Strider to a stop before her.  


“You okay?” she asked.  


“Yeah, just… sand got in my eyes, and… felt like I was gonna fall off,” Anukai muttered.  


The dark-haired girl nodded, turning to glance over her shoulder toward the rapidly disappearing clouds of dust in the distance.  


“I figured they’d stop by now,” she remarked.  


“Yeah… me, too.”  


With a heavy sigh, Anukai shook her head.  


“GAIA?”  


“I am tracking their locations, Anukai,” the light-woman said in her ear. “I will guide you to them.”  


“Thank you,” she sighed, glancing back over at Ikrie. “Guess we might as well keep moving, though.”  


With that, they set off in the direction they had been travelling, the two of them falling into silence as their Striders moved at their equivalent of a jog across the desert sand. Every once in a while, a blue line of light would appear on the ground before Anukai’s Strider, and she would adjust their course accordingly. Their path quickly left the mountain range behind, venturing farther into the open ground of the desert.  


Anukai continued to scan the horizon, but could only make out what appeared to be an endless expanse of brown and beige in every direction away from the mountains behind them. After roughly an hour of travelling with no sign of either of the older women, the Banuk girls brought their Striders to slower, walking paces before glancing over at each other, once again.  


“You starting to get a bad feeling?” Ikrie asked.  


“Starting to get a little annoyed,” Anukai replied.  


The dark-haired girl nodded in agreement, sighing.  


“Who was that Petra she mentioned?” she continued, glancing over at the redhead.  


“A friend, from what I’ve gathered,” Anukai shrugged.  


“Just a friend?”  


“A good one, I guess.”  


Ikrie frowned slightly in response.  


“I’m assuming Aloy told you about her?”  


“Not much,” the redhead replied, shaking her head. “Just that she designed a lot of the machines that they use in Meridian, and that she died ten years ago.”  


Anukai chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment before sighing.  


“And I think I saw her in that dream last night.”  


“Wait… you _saw_ her?”  


The redhead nodded.  


“How?”  


“What do you mean?”  


“I mean… you don’t know what she looks like, as far as I know,” Ikrie replied. “How do you know you saw someone you’ve never met?”  


“Aloy said her name.”  


“Yeah, but… it was a dream, so… that wouldn’t be the real Aloy or anything.”  


Anukai remained silent, staring at the distant, hazy line between the beige ground and the blue sky in the distance.  


“Right?”  


The redhead finally sighed, shaking her head.  


“I don’t know, but… this morning, when everyone was waking up, she… she looked at me like… like she _knew_.”  


Confusion creased Ikrie’s face as Anukai felt a heavy weight forming in her stomach.  


“I don’t know, it was just a glance and—”  


“No, no, wait,” the dark-haired girl interrupted, “I’m… at this point, I’m willing to hear a lot of things out, Anukai.”  


The redhead swallowed nervously, keeping her gaze focused ahead of her even as she noticed the other girl’s Strider moving closer to hers out of the corner of her eye.  


“You think… the two of you experienced the same dream… together?”  


“I… I don’t know,” she sighed. “Truly. I…”  


With a sigh, Anukai’s shoulders slumped.  


“I never told you about what happened in that courtyard outside Aloy’s room in Meridian, did I?”  


A moment of silence passed before the redhead glanced over at Ikrie to find her shaking her head.  


“You asked, and… well, you were a little—”  


“Yes, I remember—or, well, don’t, but… I get your point,” Ikrie interrupted.  


“Anyway,” Anukai continued, grinning, “in that courtyard, when you saw me—panicking a bit… I… I saw someone.”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments before the redhead continued.  


“Someone who… I don’t think was really there.”  


“And… it was Aloy?”  


“No,” she shook her head. “She looked like Aloy—and Elisabet—though.”  


“So… it wasn’t Elisabet either?”  


Anukai shook her head.  


“Then who was it?”  


“I don’t know,” she replied, throwing one arm up in defeat, while keeping the other tightly gripping her mount’s wires. “I’ve only ever seen her one other place before.”  


“And where was that?”  


Anukai opened her mouth to respond before quickly realizing the trap she had laid for herself. After a moment, she let out a heavy sigh, staring ahead at the ground, rather than meeting Ikrie’s gaze.  


“In Daytower,” she said. “I… I thought I saw her near the market area, and then… she was standing right in front of me as we went to leave.”  


A soft “oh” came from beside her, but Anukai still couldn’t bring herself to look over.  


“So that’s why you looked so surprised…” Ikrie finally said. “You had almost the same look on your face both times, and… well, it makes more sense, now.”  


Silence fell over them for a few more moments before the redhead let out a heavy sigh, yet again.  


“So, yeah…”  


“I’m assuming you haven’t told anyone else?”  


Anukai finally glanced over at Ikrie to find her staring back with a curious expression.  


“No, why?”  


“Well… you were talking to Aloy about something while Talanah and I were talking, yesterday.”  


“Oh… it… it wasn’t about that,” she replied, shaking her head. “I… I don’t think Aloy would know her, either.”  


“Why not?”  


Anukai swallowed the heavy lump in her throat before attempting to reply.  


“The—vision woman—said… I wasn’t her child, but… I was… a lot like her.”  


All sound seemed to have been sucked away from the world around them as the huntresses stared back at each other, each baring an unreadable expression.  


“Aloy said she didn’t have a mother…” Ikrie said slowly.  


Anukai began to nod as a shiver wracked the dark-haired girl.  


“I… I don’t know what to think…” she finally managed.  


“Me, neither.”  


Anukai quickly clamped her jaw shut at the hint of a crack in her voice, clenching it tightly as she tried to turn away, but it was already too late. Almost immediately, Ikrie moved her Strider as close as she could, reaching out to place one hand on the redhead’s shoulder.  


“I’m not… that wasn’t meant as an attack,” she said. “I can tell you’re confused, too, and… I wish I had some semblance of an answer.”  


Anukai finally glanced over at Ikrie once again to find the dark-haired girl giving her a sympathetic smile.  


“Me, too.”  


Just then, a chime sounded in Anukai’s ear and she jumped slightly.  


“Talanah and Aloy have stopped ahead,” GAIA’s voice sounded in her ear. “They are only 1.4 miles ahead of you.”  


“Only?” Anukai replied, recoiling in surprise as confusion creased Ikrie’s face.  


“They were moving at a rather rapid pace of nearly thirty miles per hour,” GAIA replied. “It is actually quite—”  


“Okay, so they’re close,” Anukai interrupted. “Which direction, GAIA?”  


A blue line made out of light appeared on the ground before her Strider, leading her up and over a sand dune to their left.  


“They are currently holding at their position, waiting for you.”  


“Well, guess we’ll be there soon.”  


With a sigh, she glanced back over at Ikrie.  


“The other two are waiting just over a mile away.”  


“That’s… far,” Ikrie replied, letting her hand fall by her side, once again.  


“GAIA’s showing me how to get there. Come on.”  


With that, Anukai turned her Strider and began to lead the way up the side of the sand dune. As they crested its peak, she scanned the horizon for signs of the other two figures, but the heat reflecting off the sand made it nearly impossible to truly discern anything amidst the haze in the distance.  


“Well, they’re generally this way,” Anukai said, pointing. “Let’s see if we can catch up quickly.”  


Ikrie nodded before they both spurred their Striders onward, quickly picking up speed as they tore across the open groud of the desert. As they passed through one of the low-lying areas between the dunes, Anukai noted what appeared to be pieces of twisted metal sticking into the air from beneath the sand, the individual beams similar to other ancient ruins she had seen, although she also noticed the slim, metal carcass of another ancient machine almost entirely buried in the sand across from it.  


Curiosity creased her face as she watched the signs of the ancient world slip by her, only for her attention to snap forward once again as they ascended the slight incline on the far side of the small valley. As soon as they had, her eyes locked onto two small, dark shapes in the distance, and she pointed. Both girls adjusted their paths along what Anukai first thought to be another worn trail, like the one they had followed past Sunfall, but she quickly began to realize that the ground was a different consistency than the sand they had been travelling over thus far.  


At first, she thought it was a large slab of rock buried under the desert sand, but she quickly noted that it seemed to stretch on for a long ways ahead of them, albeit with many cracks and gaps in its surface, all while remaining a consistent width. Ikrie seemed to notice, as well, as Anukai caught her glancing around them, even while they pressed their Striders onward at a rapid pace.  


The distant shapes began to coalesce into the silhouettes of two figures and two machines, finally regaining their color and details as the girls began to slow their Striders. When they finally came to a stop, they found Talanah and Aloy standing beside their mounts, the Carja woman looking over at Aloy as the redhead kept her arms folded over her chest, her head bowed slightly.  


The girls exchanged glances before sliding from their mounts, as well, both of them stretching as their feet landed on solid ground.  


“Hey,” Talanah called, waving toward them with an apologetic smile. “Glad GAIA was able to guide you.”  


Anukai nodded.  


“Yeah, good thing.”  


With a sigh, the dark-haired Carja glanced back at Aloy, nodding toward the two girls. The older redhead sighed heavily, kicking at the ground before her before lifting her head to look up at them.  


“I apologize—greatly—for what I did,” she said. “I… my reaction was not thought through, and… I feel terrible that I left you behind without any consideration.”  


“It seemed like a bit of a sore subject,” Anukai shrugged.  


“It… it is,” Aloy replied, nodding, exchanging an unreadable look with the younger redhead before clearing her throat and glancing between the two girls, “but that doesn’t excuse it.”  


Silence fell over them all for several moments before Anuaki cleared her throat.  


“Well, uh… thanks,” she said. “We caught up in the end, so…”  


“That you did,” Talanah replied, nodding. “Either of you thirsty?”  


They both nodded, prompting the Carja woman to grab one of the canteens from her pack of things and toss it to Anukai. After the redhead had taken a swig or two, she passed it to Ikrie.  


“So… where are we?” the younger redhead asked.  


“Well… in the middle of nowhere, more or less,” Aloy sighed. “We—uh—covered quite a bit of ground, though.”  


“GAIA told me that last night in Meridian that we had to go over a thousand miles to get to this mountain,” Anukai replied. “I take it we didn’t quite cover that much ground.”  


“Uh, no,” Aloy replied, shaking her head. “We have well and truly left the Sundom behind, though.”  


“So… where does that leave us, now?”  


“Well, we probably want to try to get out of the middle of the desert as soon as we can,” Talanah chimed in. “Any ideas on where to go to do that?”  


“Well…” Aloy sighed, tapping her Focus before staring intently at something in the air before her. “Looks like if we go… more or less straight north, we should be on track for… something on this map.”  


“What? What is it?” Talanah asked, tapping her Focus, as well.  


“I… GAIA?”  


“That is the location of an ancient city,” the light-woman’s voice chimed in, leaving Ikrie to glance between the other three helplessly.  


“Okay… and… is anything still there?”  


“I do not know,” GAIA replied, “however based on data from other such large cities near the tribal lands you are familiar with, it may provide a form of shelter.”  


“So… how long does it take to get there?”  


“If you maintain a relatively quick pace, you should reach it before nightfall.”  


Aloy and Talanah exchanged glances before the redhead shrugged and they both tapped their Focuses.  


“Seems like a plan, to me.”  


“So, north?” Ikrie confirmed, clapping her hands together before her.  


“For now,” Talanah nodded. “Ready for a hard day’s ride?”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged dubious glances as the Carja woman laughed and Aloy rolled her eyes before shoving her shoulder playfully.  


“We’ll move fast, but not breakneck,” the older redead said. “GAIA, if you’d be so kind as to set some waypoints.”  


“I will do so for all of you, just in case.”  


“What’s a waypoint?” Anukai asked, frowning.  


Just then, a strange, golden diamond made of light appeared on the horizon before her to the sound of the familiar chime of her Focus in her ear. She tilted her head to the side slightly as she stared at it, her brow knitting in confusion.  


“That’s a waypoint,” Talanah replied. “Basically, think of it like marking a map, but projected by your Focus over the real world.”  


Anukai nodded slowly before glancing over at Ikrie, who only gave her an exasperated sigh, her shoulders slumping in defeat.  


“You sure—?”  


“ _Yes_ , I’m sure,” the dark-haired girl interrupted, turning on her heel to step back to her Strider without another word.  


Anukai watched her go for a moment, a strange, tight feeling appearing in her chest, which only prompted her to rub at it as she began to return to her mount, as well. Once all four members of their party had climbed aboard their mounts, once again, Aloy glanced around and waved for them all to follow before spurring her Strider onward.  


The mounts quickly picked up speed as they left the hard, straight surface the Banuk girls had followed to the older women, instead returning to the loose ground of the desert sands. Although the faster pace felt like it may be somewhat painful to maintain, at first, with the constant pounding of the Strider’s hooves sending vibrations shooting throughout Anukai’s body, she quickly found that they began to fade into the background as their trek continued.  


By the time the sun had fallen just below its peak, Anukai had begun to note a new set of mountains in the distance, and she noted how the light-diamond they had been following seemed to be placed just beside them. Within an hour or so more, they had significantly closed the distance between themselves and the mountains, and Aloy held up one hand as she began to slow her Strider. Anukai followed suit, slowly bringing her mount to a stop beside the older redhead’s.  


The younger redhead shifted her position on the mount uncomfortably as the stiffness and soreness from maintaining more or less the same position for hours made itself known.  


“See that up there?”  


She glanced up to where Aloy was pointing, squinting slightly against the burning sun, but even despite the bright reflections off the sand and the haze in the distance, she could make out what appeared to be speckles of green on the ground ahead.  


“Is that… actually plant-life?” Talanah replied.  


“Certainly seems like it might be…”  


They all exchanged glances before the Carja woman let out a loud “pssh” sound.  


“Worth checking out, I think.”  


With that, she spurred her Strider onward, taking the lead while the other three quickly tried to keep up. The ride toward the signs of greenery in the distance took just under an hour, it seemed, but as they grew closer, signs of vegetation and hints that the view from a distance had not deceived them began to grow more apparent. Finally, as they crested the top of a small ridge, its surface covered with a similar sparse vegetation as in the Sundom, they all came to a halt, staring down at the ground below them.  


A moderately-sized river cut through the landscape below them, its banks filled with actual signs of life that had been sorely missing from the desert, so far. Grass grew on the banks of the water, while some larger plants, including the similar spiky, green ones Anukai had seen in the Sundom also dotted the nearby ground.  


“Oh yes,” Talanah sighed, quickly dismounting from her Strider. “It wasn’t a mirage…”  


“A what?” Ikrie asked, also beginning to dismount her Strider.  


“A hallucination,” Aloy replied, “caused by the heat.”  


“Oh… yeah,” the dark-haired girl nodded. “Good thing.”  


Anukai laughed softly as she slid from her mount, groaning as soon as her feet hit the sand. Every part of her ached and hurt to move as she began to twist and stretch in place. Finally, when it felt her muscles weren’t quite so tightly wound, she began to make her way toward the edge of the ridge, carefully slipping over the side and sliding down its sandy surface with one hand braced behind herself to steady her descent.  


Once she reached the bottom, she jogged for a few steps before slowing to a walk with a sigh, clapping her hands before her to try to remove most of the dirt and sand. Talanah was already at the edge of the river, kneeling on the bank and holding one hand into the water. As the others approached, she carefully cupped her hands, catching as much as she could in them before splashing it over her face.  


“You’d think you didn’t grow up in the desert,” Aloy teased as she approached, falling to her knees beside Talanah.  


“Not in the middle of it,” the Carja woman laughed. “You know living in Meridian doesn’t exactly require you to be a survivalist.”  


They continued to banter back and forth as Anukai and Ikrie also approached the water’s edge, kneeling beside it. The younger redhead tentatively slipped her hand into the river before letting out a sigh and quickly scooping as much of it in her hands as she could. She quickly splashed it over her face, as Talanah had, but also began to run her soaked hands across the back of her neck. Finally, she undid what remained of her braid from the wind nearly undoing it and began to try to run as much water through the unleashed, windswept mane.  


Finally, with a sigh, she sat back on her heels, pulling her wet mass of hair behind her and releasing it with a wet smack against her back. As she glanced over, Ikrie had just finished doing something similar, although her much shorter hairstyle meant that it simply clung to the back of her head and the slight distance down her neck the wet strands managed to reach when wet. The dark-haired girl shook the remaining water droplets from her hands before glancing over at Anukai, smirking.  


“I still say you should cut your hair shorter,” she remarked.  
“And I still say that would feel too strange,” the redhead retorted. "It'd feel too much like... losing a piece of myself."  


They both laughed before Anukai turned back to the water, carefully collecting some of it in her hands for a moment as she stared down into it.  


“Think it’s safe to drink?”  


“Well… you can see most of the way through it,” Ikrie replied.  


Anukai shrugged and began to raise her hands to her lips when a hand suddenly grabbed her left arm, stopping her. She jumped in surprise, most of the remaining water spilling from her hands.  


“Hold on,” Aloy said from beside her, shaking her head. “Just in case…”  


She produced one of the canteens, but instead of pulling the main stopper loose, she twisted a portion of it open at the very top, revealing a small opening. Anukai tilted her head slightly in confusion before Aloy dipped the canteen in the river, holding it under the water’s surface for a few seconds before pulling it out, once again. The older redhead slowly swirled the canteen in her hand for a moment before twisting the top back into place.  


“Here, try this.”  


Confusion was still firmly etched into Anukai’s face as she took it from her, removing the main portion of the stopper and taking a sip from the water within. To her surprise, it tasted incredibly clean, without any traces of the usual metallic or “dirt-like” taste she had come to associate with water gathered from lakes and rivers.  


“What’s in this thing?” she asked, twisting the stopper in her fingers.  


“A filtration system,” Aloy replied, grinning. “While something similar’s been used by the Nora for decades, this particular design was something learned from the Old Ones to make it this small.”  


Anukai let out a soft “huh” as she continued to stare down at the stopper in her fingers for a moment or two. Finally, with a shrug, she took one more swig from the canteen before offering it to Ikrie. After the dark-haired girl had drained what remained of its contents, she passed it back. Following Aloy’s example, the younger redhead placed the stopper back in it before twisting the small piece off the top.  


Angling the opening upstream, she dunked the canteen in the cool water, once again, holding it under for slightly longer than Aloy had. Once she lifted it from the water, she glanced down into the opening to find that the water level inside it was slowly lowering.  


“It’s not instant,” Aloy explained, “but it’s relatively fast.”  


“I’ll say…” Anukai replied, nodding.  


With that, they filled their remaining canteens, taking a moment here and there to drink more of the filtered water, until they had managed to keep the small containers full without immediately feeling the need to down more of their contents. Once they had gathered them all back in Talanah’s packs, she broke out some of their food supplies. Although it was simply more of the dried meat and nuts, no one complained as they sat on the riverbank in silence.  


Anukai found her gaze resting on the shimmering surface of the river, her vision moving in and out of focus as she idly ate her food. The thought that they were sitting so close to this rushing, cool water when only yards away sat massive expanses of dry sand almost made her question if she was dreaming, once again, but after subtly pinching her forearm and feeling the sting from the action, she resigned herself to the thought that it must be real.  


“How much farther is it until we get to… wherever it is we’re going?” Ikrie suddenly asked, breaking the younger redhead out of her trance.  


“You don’t—?” came Aloy’s voice from beside them, before a soft sound of realization followed. “Right, no Focus. We’re going to the site of an ancient city, and we’re… I don’t know how far. GAIA?”  


A chime sounded in Anukai’s ear, once again, as she frowned, glancing toward Ikrie.  


“If you are to return to your previous pace, you should reach the city just at nightfall, at this time.”  


“Oops,” Talanah laughed. “Guess we spent more time here than we thought.”  


“It should not be a cause for concern, at this time,” GAIA responded.  


“What? What do you mean?” Ikrie suddenly chimed in.  


“GAIA said that should reach the city just at nightfall,” Anukai explained. “Originally she said we should reach it before then.”  


Ikrie nodded slowly, something unreadable crossing her eyes for a moment before she noticed Anukai watching her and she quickly tried to pass it off.  


“Do we have to?” Aloy sighed. “We could just… stay here for the night…”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face for a moment as she glanced over to find the older redhead leaning against Talanah, her head propped on the Carja woman’s shoulder as as she wore a mock pitiful expression.  


“What happened to all that ‘make sure the world is safe’ urgency?” the dark-haired woman teased.  


“Mmm… but… you’re safe… I’m safe…”  


Talanah rolled her eyes as Aloy laughed.  


“I think this little break is taking a toll on you,” she shot back.  


“What? Why?”  


“Because you’re acting like an incredible sap.”  


Aloy scoffed, lifting her head from the Carja woman’s shoulder as she smirked in response.  


“I try to be nice, and this is what I get…”  


“I appreciate it,” Talanah replied, cupping the older redhead’s chin with one hand, “but let’s hold off until we’re where we actually need to be for the night.”  


Aloy let out an exaggerated sigh, but began to collect herself as everyone prepared to make their way back to their Striders. Once they had climbed the short, sandy embankment back to the idly meandering machines, they each took to their saddles, settling into places to a chorus of sighs and groans. Anukai rolled her neck and twisted her torso slowly before eventually settling into the most comfortable position she could find and taking hold of the machines’ wires.  


“So, how far away are we, exactly?” Ikrie asked, pulling the hood of her cloak over her head and shaking some of the sand that had accumulated on it loose.  


“Well…” Aloy began, tapping her Focus before staring pointedly at the air before her for several moments, “if GAIA says it’s just about nightfall when we get there, probably a good hundred to two hundred miles.”  


Ikrie’s and Anukai’s eyes widened slightly as the older redhead smirked, tapping her Focus, once again.  


“These things move quickly when they need to,” she said, patting the side of her Strider’s neck.  


The Banuk girls exchanged dubious glances, but didn’t press further as Aloy turned her Strider away from the small river oasis before them.  


“Well, time to find out, I guess.”  


With that, she spurred her mount onward, the rest quickly following suit until they had formed a vague line, Anukai and Ikrie not looking to repeat the trip through the cloud of dust they had endured earlier. The relief from the soak in the cool river water also quickly passed as the wind whipping by them dried any last hints of moisture within mere minutes, leaving the dusty, burning sensation of the desert sunlight in its wake.  


The trip around the mountain range they had been approaching took almost half of the afternoon, and as they began to course correct away from the rocky formations beside them, Anukai felt her spirits begin to sink when she took in the large expanse of haze and sand, once again.  


“It never ends…”  


The group charged onward for what felt like long enough to reach nightfall, but the sun stubbornly clung to its height in the sky. Finally, Aloy signaled for the group to begin to slow, once again, and Anukai begrudgingly obliged. As they came to a more walking speed, she straightened her posture, stretching every limb as best she could before arching her back and groaning softly.  


“You know…” Ikrie began, drawing the younger redhead’s attention, “I imagined a trip through the Forbidden West might not be all that fun… but this is still not quite what I had imagined.”  


Anukai nodded, rubbing at the back of her neck as she tilted her head from side to side.  


“Me, too.”  


“Well, good news, girls,” Aloy sighed, “we’re only a few more hours from where we’re going.”  


“Oh, only?” Anukai said, sarcasm thick in her tone. “Well that changes everything.”  


Aloy rolled her eyes but smirked.  


“You know what’s struck me?” Talanah suddenly chimed in, taking a swig from a canteen before passing it to Aloy. “We haven’t seen any other machines out here. Everywhere around the Sundom, the Claim, Nora lands, all that… they’re everywhere.”  


The other women frowned slightly, but nodded in agreement.  


“GAIA, any insight?” Aloy asked as she passed the canteen off to Anukai.  


“I do not have any, unfortunately,” the light-woman replied. “As the function of HEPHAESTUS that is currently active in my system is a copy restored from the original drives into the Cauldrons you have overridden, it does not have full access to the entire Cauldron network.”  


“But there had to be Cauldrons out here, too, right?” Talanah asked. “I mean… I know this place is like a barren desert, but you had to have something to make sure things like that river we found were still around.”  


“I do not doubt that there are Cauldrons in this region,” GAIA replied, “but unfortunately I do not know where they are.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she passed the canteen to Ikrie.  


“Why not?” she asked. “You were in charge of rebuilding the world and all that, I thought.”  


“Yes, however I did not directly oversee every single construction or operation,” GAIA replied. “Elisabet and her team created the subfunctions to operate mostly autonomously, albeit with my input.”  


“To operate… how?”  


“On their own.”  


Anukai nodded before glancing toward Ikrie to find her with a tight-lipped expression, the canteen balanced casually on her leg.  


“Should I even ask?”  


Ikrie shook her head, handing the canteen back.  


“I’m fine, Anukai.”  


The younger redhead sighed, taking the offered canteen and shaking her head. After the others took one last quick swing from the vessel, Talanah stashed it with the others and they resumed their journey onward, quickly picking up speed, once again.  


By the time the sun had fallen much closer to the horizon than the center of the sky, Anukai had begun to notice differences in the landscape around them. Plant-life was starting to return, even if it was the sparse, twiggy bushes like the ones she had seen around Meridian. Occasional signs of dry, dark-colored grass also began to appear scatterd about the landscape. Despite all of this, she hadn’t seen anything resembling greenery since the river.  


Soon after the signs of plant life had begun to return, she noticed another mountain range appearing up ahead and slightly to their left. Their path seemed to be taking them around the right side of it, Anukai still tracing Aloy’s turns across the otherwise wide open landscape, even if she couldn’t see their exact path. By the time the sun had just begun to kiss the tops of the mountain range to their left, the plant life around them had grown far more abundant, with certain patches of grass even appearing more green than brown or red.  


The group’s pace began to slow as they found themselves passing between two smaller mountain ranges, the four women glancing around the drastically different world where they suddenly found themselves.  


“GAIA… are we on the right path, still?” Aloy asked, eyes fixed on a small tree ahead of them.  


“Yes, you are,” the light-woman confirmed. “You should be able to pass around this mountain range just over half of a mile ahead.”  


The women all exchanged incredulous glances before continuing forward toward the end of the rock formation on their left. As the steep, rocky slope to their left fell away, the group came to a stop, all four of them staring at the landscape that had been revealed. The ground continued to slope slightly down from their position, leading toward an ancient ruin of a city that seemed to sprawl larger than Meridian and all of its surrounding villages.  


Ancient, twisted hulks of metal stretched into the sky, some longer and wider than any Anukai had seen in Banuk lands, or since leaving them. Around these larger, hulking structures were numerous smaller ones, too, but what struck her the most was how green everything was. Plant life covered just about ever surface she could see.  


“So… that’s the city, I take it.”  


Anukai glanced over at Ikrie with a smirk as the dark-haired girl continued to stare at the scene before them with an awestruck expression.  


“Yeah, I’d say so.”  


Silence fell over the group for several long moments before Aloy cleared her throat, drawing their attention.  


“So… what do you all think: should we camp out here or head into the city?”  


“I mean, we did fine more out in the open last night,” Talanah pointed out.  


“But we really have no idea what’s out here compared to then,” Anukai countered.  


“We don’t know what’s in there, either,” the Carja woman replied, nodding toward the scene before them.  


“But there’s at least some kind of shelter we can take, if need be,” the younger redhead said. “Look at how green everything is out here. What’s to say it won’t suddenly rain on us in the middle of the night?”  


Talanah opened her mouth to retort, but paused as a look of contemplation crossed her face, finally leading to her letting out a “huh” sound as Aloy laughed.  


“She got you there, Tal.”  


The Carja woman rolled her eyes but grinned.  


“Okay, she convinced me,” she said. “What say you, two?”  


“Into the city,” Ikrie replied almost instantly, nodding.  


Aloy glanced around at the others before shrugging.  


“Doesn’t matter what I say. In we go, it seems.”  


With that, Aloy began to lead the group down the slowly banking ground toward the ruins ahead of them.  


“Not even going to voice an opinion so you can say ‘I told you so’ later?” Talanah teased, following after her.  


Anukai smirked as Aloy made a mock effort of thinking about her response before shaking her head.  


“No, not this time.”  


The group slowly made their way past half-buried husks of ancient, metal designs dotted about the landscape, Anukai studying a few of them as memories of similar shells buried in the snow of the Cut. Just more relics of a time long gone.  


Finally, just as the sun had sunk halfway below the mountain ranges to their left, they reached the first of the larger, metal ruins. They all remained silent as each member of the party seemed to be scanning about them in constant motion, one of Anukai’s hands remaining close to her bowstring at all times.  


Something about the abundance of life about them helped stave off the worst of the feeling of dread from being inside the ruins, but the younger redhead couldn’t shake lingering thoughts brought on by the earlier comments about the lack of machines. Ruins always seemed to draw them in, for whatever reason, and there was no telling if any machines they found out here would be exactly the same as the ones they already knew.  


Finally, after pressing onward through the mostly silent ruins, the sun had fully sunk below the nearby mountain range, leaving the sky still lit brilliantly in golds and pinks against the backdrop of the deep, inky blue that was quickly fading to black, but also leaving the world on the ground in the hazy, almost blue twilight that began to twist any random shape into something bigger and more threatening.  


“We should consider shelter soon…” Ikrie muttered, continuing to glance around in almost constant motion.  


“Agreed,” Aloy replied. “Let’s find somewhere that still seems to be mostly contained, with four actual walls.”  


Just as they rounded the corner of a somewhat large, metal building that also seemed to be leaning dangerously in their direction, they found themselves on a rather open strip of ground leading between two rows of hulking, metal structures. The women came to a stop as they stared down the narrow, open ground and the massive structures on either side of them.  


They all exchanged glances before silently turning and beginning to make their way toward the structures. Anukai tilted her head back to glance up at the massive structure to her right as they passed, noting that while the frame was most definitely made of metal, the front side had many openings that were divided into different levels by said frame.  


“What was this place… before?” she asked softly.  


“The location where you currently stand,” GAIA’s voice chimed in their ears, notably somewhat scratchy and distorted, however, “was once called the city of Las Vegas.”  


Anukai repeated the name slowly as she turned her gaze to the other ruins about them.  


“It was once a hub of entertainment in the ancient world,” the light-woman continued. “You are currently located in what was referred to commonly as ‘the Strip’, where a large portion of the city’s entertainment occurred.”  


“So these… were all just for fun?” Talanah asked, a somewhat awestruck expression still on her face.  


“Many of these buildings also housed those visiting the city, temporarily,” GAIA explained.  


“Like… massive inns?”  


“Yes. They were called hotels, and the entertainment portions were often called casinos. They put on performances, provided food and drink, and encouraged gambling.”  


“Sounds like your kind of place,” Aloy teased, glancing over at the Carja woman.  


Talanah rolled her eyes, but grinned.  


“So, we take shelter in one of these ruins, then?” Anukai asked, clearing her throat.  


The older redhead glanced back at her and nodded.  


“Take your pick.”  


“Me?”  


“Yeah. I’ve made a lot of the decisions so far,” she shrugged. “You or Ikrie can make this one.”  


The Banuk girls exchanged glances before surveying the area around them, once more. Finally, Anukai’s eyes settled on one of the hulking, metal structures ahead of them, although what particularly caught her attention was the smaller construction outside it. While the structure, itself, was and triangular, compared to the more rectangular shapes of the rest, half of a large, hulking frame that almost could have been a figure of some sort at one time sat directly in front of it.  


“How about that one?” the redhead asked, pointing up ahead and glancing to Ikrie.  


The dark-haired girl followed her gesture before shrugging.  


“Certainly different.”  


“Is that a yes…?”  


“Yes, sure,” Ikrie replied, rolling her eyes as she grinned.  


Aloy nodded before gesturing for the girls to take the lead. They urged their Striders forward, closing the gap to the large structure within a few minutes. As they came to a stop outside the massive ruin, they paused, Anukai chewing the inside of her cheek slowly.  


“It’s… a lot bigger than I thought,” she muttered.  


“They all are,” Ikrie sighed. “We go inside, I take it?”  


“That’s what they wanted,” Anukai replied, nodding toward Aloy and Talanah behind them.  


“You get the feeling like that might be a bad idea?”  


Anukai sighed, shrugging.  


“Guess we’ll find out.”  


With that, they all dismounted from their Striders, grabbing their supplies before approaching the side of the ruin, where a hole had formed from part of the structure’s outer shell collapsing. Numerous similar holes appeared across the ruin’s large, flat surfaces, but Anukai simply tried to tell herself that if it had stood for this long, the four of them walking inside should not cause it to come crashing down right then.  


As they stepped through the opening and into the ruin, what little light from outside quickly disappeared, leaving them in near total darkness. Anukai felt the hair on the back of her neck begin to stand on end before something tapped her arm and she jumped backward in surprise. A quiet laugh followed, and as the younger redhead’s eyes continued to adjust ot the darkness, she could just make out who she thought was Aloy ahead of her.  


“Here, give me your Focus,” she said.  


“Why?”  


“I know something that’ll help you see.”  


A deep shiver ran down Anukai’s spine as memories from the previous night came rushing back to her, but she quickly tried to push them aside as she slipped the device from beside her ear and attempted to hand it to the woman before her. After several seconds of searching for each other’s hands in the dark, she felt Aloy grasp hers before feeling for the Focus and sliding it out of her palm.  


The blue light from the outside of the device was relatively easy to trace as she watched Aloy slide hers, which glowed a soft green color, free before replacing it with Anukai’s. A few moments later, she exchanged, them, once again, and held the device back out toward the younger redhead.  


“Here, try that.”  


As Anukai slipped the Focus beside her ear, once again, the world around her suddenly seemed to explode in a layer of soft, white light that outlined the edges of each item. Immediately, another shiver ran down her spine, but she quickly tried to hide it as she turned back to Aloy.  


“Low light mode,” Aloy said. “Can be useful.”  


“I know.”  


They both paused for a moment or two before Anukai cleared her throat.  


“I-I… uh… I know, because… i-it’s already making a huge difference.”  


Several more tense moments passed before she could make out Aloy nodding.  


“Yeah… I understand.”  


With that, they turned back to the others in the group. While Talanah seemed about as capable of moving about the ruin as Aloy or Anukai, Ikrie was mostly standing still, her hands held out before her. Anukai grinned slightly as she approached, softly clearing her throat when she was next to the other girl.  


“Here, stay close,” she said, reaching for one of Ikrie’s outstretched hands.  


As soon as they came into contact, Ikrie instantly clasped Anukai’s hand in a tight grip, prompting the redhead to jump slightly. She swallowed the lump in her throat before she shifted her hands position within Ikrie’s grasp and leaned closer.  


“Hey, it’s okay,” she whispered.  


“I can’t see… anything,” Ikrie said, barely louder than a breath. “This was a bad idea.”  


“Hey, hey, Ikrie, listen to me…”  


Anukai could see the other girl’s head shaking slowly, and she carefully pried her hand free of the girl’s grasp before placing both hands gently on either side of Ikrie’s head, bringing her to a stop.  


“Listen to me… listen to me…”  


She could hear the other girl’s panicked breathing, which only created a tighter feeling in her own chest.  


“Ikrie, it’s okay, you’re okay…”  


“I-I… I don’t feel…”  


“Aloy!”  


Anukai glanced to her right, finding the older women had moved several yards ahead, but both paused at the sound of the younger redhead’s voice.  


“We can’t stay in here.”  


“What’s wrong?”  


“We—we chose poorly,” Anukai replied. “Let’s go back outside.”  


She could see the older women shift in confusion, slightly, but they began to make their way back to the girls. As they did, Anukai turned back to Ikrie, running one thumb slowly across the girl’s cheek.  


“Will you be okay for just a minute longer?”  


“A-as long… don’t leave me…”  


Anukai swallowed painfully before leaning in toward the outlined image of Ikrie, gently placing her lips to the girl’s forehead before pulling away.  


“I’m right here.”  


She could feel Ikrie nod slowly under her hands, taking it as a sign to slowly let one fall away, feeling down the other girl’s arm until she reached her hand. As before, Ikrie held on tightly, but not so tightly that her grip was painful. Anukai glanced back to find the older women had reached them and appeared to be waiting.  


“Come on, Ikrie, follow me.”  


Anukai carefully maneuvered her way back toward the opening where they had entered, the world outside having quickly darkened to the point where it would have been nearly impossible to find it, if not for the low light mode Aloy had enabled on her Focus. Finally, as they stepped free of the opening, Anukai could feel the world open up around them, and evidently Ikrie could, as well, as she heard her let out a heavy sigh and her grip slackened somewhat around the redhead’s hand.  


After a few more steps, they found their Striders grazing idly nearby, and began to make their way toward them. As they came to a stop beside Ikrie’s, the dark-haired girl suddenly turned to Anukai and released her hand, only to wrap her in a tight embrace an instant later, burying her face in the redhead’s collarbone.  


“It’s okay… it’s okay…” Anukai sighed, returning the embrace and running one hand slowly in circles across her back.  


She swore she could feel Ikrie’s pounding heartbeat against her own chest for several moments, before it began to slow, the dark-haired girl’s breathing also beginning to calm.  


“I’m sorry…” she muttered into Anukai’s tunic.  


“For what?”  


“I’ve never… never felt like that before…”  


“Don’t apologize.”  


“But… we’ve…”  


“It doesn’t matter,” Anukai interjected. “You’re okay, now.”  


Several more long moments passed before she felt Ikrie breathe deeply and finally begin to release her grip around her. When the dark-haired girl pulled away, Anukai held her in place for a moment by her upper arms.  


“We’ll find somewhere else, okay?”  


The other girl nodded and Anukai smiled softly, even if Ikrie could barely see it, before placing another soft kiss to the girl’s forehead. Finally, they both turned back to Aloy and Talanah to find them waiting patiently several yards away. At the sudden motion from the two girls, they straightened up, appearing much more alert.  


“Maybe we can set up camp outside, just… against one of these,” Aloy said quietly. “Let’s find somewhere with more open visibility.”  


They both nodded before everyone took hold of their Strider’s wires and began to lead them away from the opening where they had attempted to enter the ruin minutes ago. They ended up rounding the side of the strange, triangular frame before finding a small spot before it that was tucked beside a large, partial frame that appeared to have possibly held the shape of some kind of figure, at one time. As they laid out their bedrolls on the grassy ground, Ikrie pointedly placed hers directly beside Anukai’s, the long sides of each of theirs touching. The dark-haired girl fell onto hers a moment later, letting out a heavy sigh as she rubbed at her eyes with both hands.  


“We’ll take watches, again,” Aloy said. “I’ll go first, this time.”  


“You sure?” Talanah asked.  


“Yeah, I’m—” the older redhead’s response was cut short by a deep yawn, which only drew laughter from Talanah. “What?”  


“I’ll take first watch, again. You get some rest.”  


“I’m fine, Talanah.”  


“Hey,” the Carja woman said, stepping over to her and placing both hands on her shoulders, “I know you… and I’m telling you to get some rest, first.”  


“Telling me?”  


“Do I need to make it a command, Thrush?”  


Aloy made a sound of mocking that was also quickly drowned out by another yawn, prompting a grin from Anukai.  


“Okay, fine,” the older redhead sighed, making a show of removing her equipment and dropping it on the ground beside her bedroll.  


“Good,” Talanah replied before leaving her with a gentle kiss and making her way toward a vantage point near the front of the structure they were camped against.  


As soon as Anukai had ditched her equipment, as well, and laid down on her bedroll, she sensed motion from beside her and glanced over. Almost immediately, Ikrie slid up against her, wrapping her blanket over herself and the redhead. Soon after, one of her arms wrapped over Anukai’s chest, allowing the dark-haired girl to pull herself tightly against her side, her face quickly burying itself in her shoulder.  


Anukai smiled softly before rolling onto her side, as well, pulling Ikrie closer until the girl had buried her head against the redhead’s collarbone, once again. As they fell still, she leaned her head forward, gently placing a kiss on the crown of the dark-haired girl’s head, only to feel a warm, wet feeling against the nape of her neck in response. Her heart began to pound in her chest, as she felt a wider smile tug at her lips.  


The redhead’s right arm wrapped over Ikrie’s side before her hand slowly began to run up and down the dark-haired girl’s back. Almost immediately, she felt the tension leave the other girl’s body and her breathing began to slow. Within minutes, Anukai was certain she had fallen asleep.  


The younger redhead sighed as she closed her eyes, also trying to capture sleep as quickly as her companion, however it did not appear that would be the case. Eventually, she did manage to fall into a half-sleep that did not feel at all restful, but thankfully also did not seem to contain any dreams.  


After what felt like mere minutes, the sound of motion from nearby prompted her eyes to crack open, once again. She tilted her head slightly to see two figures standing nearby and she grew tense for a moment, only to force herself to relax when she recognized the red tint of Aloy’s hair under the faint moonlight.  


Anukai quickly deduced that the other figure must be Talanah, especially when they leaned in, seemingly sharing another kiss, before Aloy turned and began to make her way toward the spot she had seen Talanah occupy earlier. After the Carja woman had settled into her bedroll, once again, and the silhouette of Aloy had taken her position against the side of the structure ahead of them, Anukai slowly glanced down toward Ikrie.  


The dark-haired girl was still fast asleep, but her head had slid from Anukai’s shoulder to the pillow of their rolled up cloaks. The younger redhead took a deep breath before carefully sliding out from under their blanket, disentangling herself from the dark-haired girl. Once she was fully separated, she paused, watching the other girl sleepily adjust her position, but she didn’t seem to wake.  


Breathing a sigh of relief, Anukai carefully collected her bow and her belt, tying the article about her waist before quietly padding away from the bedrolls toward the guard post site. As she drew within a few yards, Aloy glanced back, but didn’t otherwise seem to react. With a heavy sigh, Anukai took a seat beside her, holding her bow in her lap.  


“You know, it’s really not a two-person job, taking watch,” Aloy finally said.  


“I know,” Anukai sighed, “but, I… I wanted to talk.”  


Aloy raised her eyebrows slightly as she shifted her position.  


“Oh?”  


Anukai chewed the inside of her cheek nervously for a moment or two, scanning over the moonlit ruins before them for a few moments before turning her attention back to the older redhead.  


“I’ve… I’ve been thinking,” she began slowly, but trailed off.  


After several long seconds of silence, Aloy pressed further.  


“About?”  


“About… well… myself and… you.”  


Confusion was etched into Aloy’s face as Anukai swallowed the hard lump that had appeared in her throat.  


“What are we?”  


The confusion did not seem to lessen as the older redhead shifted her position, once again.  


“What do you mean?”  


“Like…” Anukai began, but paused before ultimately letting out a shaky sigh, “like… we look like each other, and… you said that we’re—probably—physically almost exactly the same, but…”  


Aloy remained silent for a few more moments, evidently waiting for Anukai to go on, but when the younger redhead had remained silent, she took a deep breath, instead.  


“But we’re not the same in mind.”  


Anukai finally shook her head.  


“No… not in mind.”  


Silence fell over them, once again, for several long moments before Aloy sighed heavily.  


“I’ve been wondering something similar,” she finally said.  


Anukai’s heart began to race as she raised her eyebrows slightly.  


“Oh?  


“Like you said, we have a—bond, or—similarity, at least—that neither of us share with anyone else… and that no one else shares like us,” she continued, “but… you’re, what, half my age and grew up in a completely different land, with different customs, ideals, and everything?”  


“Right.”  


“So… yeah…” Aloy sighed. “I… I guess I was curious how… _you_ felt about… all that.”  


Anukai laughed softly, absentmindedly running her fingers over the bowstring in her lap for a few moments.  


“I came to you, first,” she shot back, smirking.  


Aloy laughed softly, shaking her head.  


“Well, I mean—”  


Just then, something prompted the older redhead to freeze as she instantly fell silent, posture straightening as her head snapped to her right. Anukai instantly grew tense as she began to draw an arrow from the quiver at her hip, nocking it to her bow. Aloy did the same, holding her weapon at the ready, but without the string drawn.  


They both remained completely silent, staring out at the moonlit landscape around them for several long moments before a soft scuffling, scratching sound came from behind Anukai and she whirled around, popping to a kneeling position as she drew her bowstring back. Instantly, her eyes locked on a darkened figure perched on a portion of the ruin above her, and her heart began to pound.  


The figure didn’t seem to have a weapon aimed at her, but something was held in their right hand.  


Just as Anukai began to draw her bowstring as taut as she could manage, motion out of the corner of her eye drew her attention and she carefully glanced to her left. Aloy was rising to her feet, her bow no longer held at the ready as she instead slowly slid the arrow back into her quiver and began to hold her bow out to one side.  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face before her gaze shifted past Aloy to find two more figures standing before the older redhead. Unlike the figure Anukai had in her sights, these two were holding some kinds of weapons at the ready in their hands, although they were unlike any she had ever seen before. The closest thing she could think of that was similar to them were the rattlers she had seen the Oseram tinkerers sell in the Cut.  


As Anukai turned her attention back to the figure before her, she found them shaking their head and wagging a finger at her before gesturing to her bow and pointing toward the ground. The younger redhead’s teeth ground as she remained in a firing position. The figure seemed to sigh before holding the item in their hand at the ready, revealing it to be a contraption similar to the one Anukai remembered Aloy purchasing from the man in the armory back in Meridian. It was somewhat similar in design to the rattler-like weapons, although much smaller and able to be held in one hand.  


“Anukai…”  


She glanced toward Aloy, once again, to see the older redhead had turned toward her, but she was staring past her. As the younger redhead glanced to her right, she found even more darkened figures emerging from around the corner of the larger ruin they had attempted to enter earlier. Anukai didn’t have to turn around completely to guess that there were perhaps even more directly behind her.  


With a heavy sigh, she lowered her bow, slowly sliding the arrow back into her quiver, as Aloy had done. The figure crouched on the ruin above her nodded slowly before shifting toward the edge and hopping onto the grassy ground before her. The figures near Aloy had also drawn closer, still holding their weapons at the ready.  


Anukai and Aloy exchanged glances before the sound of the figure before Anukai snapping their fingers drew their attention. The figure pointed toward Talanah and Ikrie before gesturing with their weapon for them to make their way closer. The younger redhead’s jaw began to work tensely, once again, but she complied, both redheads making their way slowly back to their sleeping companions. When they reached the small camp, Ikrie began to stir.  


“My turn…?” she muttered.  


“Not exactly,” Anukai said. “Ikrie, stand up slowly.”  


The dark-haired girl paused, slowly turning toward her with confusion etched onto her face. As she did, however, she froze, eyes widening when she inevitably caught sight of the other figures behind her.  


“Just… stand up,” the younger redhead breathed.  


Ikrie nodded slowly, swallowing nervously before casting her blanket aside and beginning to rise to her feet. Anukai carefully stepped over to her, stopping beside her as Aloy roused Talanah. The Carja woman jumped in surprise at the sight of the figures nearby, but also quietly rose to her feet.  


The moonlight was just bright enough that Anukai could make out the general shape and size of the figures, but she also noted that most of them appeared to be wearing some kind of clothing wrapped around their heads, as well as eye protection that combined to block the view of their faces, entirely.  


“We don’t have much,” Aloy said quietly. “We’re on a journey through these lands, and did not come here looking for anyone, or any resources.”  


The figures all remained silent for several moments before Anukai noted that one of them had stepped forward, the same one that had appeared above her earlier. The figure seemed to stare back at Aloy for several long moments before also glancing over at Anukai. Suddenly, they raised their hand not holding a weapon in a sudden, jerking motion, their hand curling into a fist. A moment later, they extended one finger and made a circular motion with the same hand.  


With that, the strange figure began to back away as the rest moved forward, gesturing to their bedrolls and equipment with their weapons. The four women glanced at each other briefly before tentatively beginning to pack their things. Once they had packed everything, they rose to their feet, leaving their equipment on the ground.  


After several long moments, one of the figures gestured to their equipment, once again, as if urging them to pick it up.  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face, but she did as they indicated, grabbing her bedroll and any leftover equipment from the ground and securing it about her person, as she would for travelling. With that, one of the figures gestured for them to follow, seemingly, and began to walk after the first figure. After a moment or two of the women standing in a confused, stunned silence, one of the other figures gestured more emphatically.  


“I think… we’re supposed to follow…” Aloy said softly.  


The same figure nodded before gesturing, once again.  


With one last exchange of glances, the group turned and began to follow after the strange, figures, eying the weapons still held at the ready warily. As they fell in step behind the group, Anukai noted how several other figures had seemingly gathered their Striders and were leading them along, as well, just ahead of them.  


A tight, burning feeling appeared in Anukai’s chest as her hands clenched into fists at her sides before relaxing several moments later.  


“So much for not seeing anyone or anything out here.”  


The group of silent, unknown figures quickly fell in step around the four women, while the one who seemed to be their leader continued on through the ruins of the ancient city, seemingly unpurturbed by anything around them, and not checking to make sure any of the group was following. As they moved out from the cover of the ruins and into a more open area of the former city, the moonlight grew slightly brighter and Anukai was able to get a better look at their captors.  


The figures were all dressed unlike any tribe she had ever seen, with their clothing seemingly made up of rough, unrefined fabric. Many of the figures’ clothing appeared ripped and damaged in multiple places, although multiple places also appeared to have been sewn up by hand; what struck the younger redhead as odd, however, was that the craftsmanship of the repairs appeared to be quite good, compared to the haphazard job she had expected. There was also little to no distinguishing factors about any individual members, with little to no variations in color or design to their appearance, leaving only the telltale hints of body shape to give any sort of information about who they were following.  


“Think they’re bandits?” Anukai whispered just loud enough for Aloy to hear as she moved closer to her.  


“Not sure,” the older redhead replied just as softly. “They definitely don’t look Utaru, so very well could be.”  


“Utaru?”  


“A known tribe who, to our knowledge, live primarily on the edge of the Forbidden West,” she replied. “They’re very hardened warriors and survivalists, but from my experience, they tend to look closer to Nora than… this.”  


They fell into silence, once again, as some of the nearby figures glanced in their direction, shifting their weapons in their hands. The forced march continued in total silence for what felt like another hour until they appeared to reach the edge of what had once been the ancient city. As they approached, Anukai noticed more dark shapes ahead of them, and began to grow tense.  


Finally, when they crested the small hill, they came face to face with a small herd of what seemed to be Broadheads. The younger redhead’s tension did not relent as she glanced over the group of machines that had all raised their heads from their grazing to stare at the approaching group. As they drew within yards, however, the blue lights on the machines’ “faces” did not change from blue to yellow, but many of them simply went back to grazing.  


“They’re docile…” Ikrie breathed, prompting Anukai to glance over at her.  


The dark-haired girl met her eyes for a moment before they both swallowed nervously and turned back to the herd of machines as their captors brought them to a stop. One of the figures approached the women, one of the larger, rattler-like weapons held casually in his hands.  


“Take your mounts,” he said, his voice deep and gruff, but while his tone was commanding, it wasn’t angry.  


The women exchanged glances before beginning to make their way toward their Striders, watching as several of the figures began to climb aboard the Broadhead machines nearby, as well. Anukai caught Aloy and Talanah exchanging incredulous looks before they all took to their mounts, once again.  


Once atop her Strider, Anukai waited as the last few figures climbed aboard their mounts, some of those already atop their Broadheads hovering nearby with weapons at the ready, dispelling her thoughts of making a break for it. Once the entire group was ready, the figure who seemed to be the one that had been leading the way raised their fist into the air once again before giving one firm, vigorous shake.  


With that, they turned and began to guide their mount into a trot away from the ruins of the city. Several of the other captors began to follow, while nearby figures waved their weapons at the women, indicating for them to follow. Anukai swallowed nervously as she spurred her Strider on, following after the older women and moving beside Ikrie.  


Once they had cleared the crest of a second hilltop behind the one they had already asceneded, the group began to pick up speed, the four travelling women matching pace. Before long, the group had urged their mounts to a full gallop, quickly leaving the tall, dark silhouettes of the ruined city behind as they charged across the open ground.  


They maintained their pace until Anukai noted the sun beginning to rise over the horizon to her right. Taking her hands away from the machine’s wires for a moment, she rubbed at her eyes, attempting to remove the fatigue that had suddenly reared its head. She had no idea how long she had slept, but it couldn’t have been for long, if Talanah had just finished her first watch shift when she had gone to speak to Aloy.  


With the rising sun, the landscape also revealed itself to be growing sparser, once again, with the grass and other plantlife quickly giving way to the dry, twiggy bushes and burnt, red and brown grass that she remembered from the cusp of entering the ancient city. A quick glance across the landscape before them, as well, revealed little to nothing in the way of remarkable landmarks, except a few small mountain ranges in the distance.  


Just as the sun had fully risen over the eastern horizon, the group of captors ahead of them began to raise their fists as Anukai noted their pace slowing. She reacted in turn, gently slowing her Strider until the whole group had slowed to a walking pace. As they did, the younger redhead glanced around, trying to see what had prompted them to do so. As far as she could tell, they were still in the middle of nowhere, with no discernable settlements nearby.  


As she turned her attention forward, once again, she realized that some kind of shape had seemingly materialized out of the sand ahead of them, and she craned her neck slightly to try to see it. The most she could make out were some vague, dark shapes that almost appeared half-bured in the desert, but they were growing larger as they approached.  


Finally, the leader of their group of captors signaled for all of them to stop before dismounting their Broadhead. The rest of the group began to follow suit, prompting Anukai and Ikrie to exchange glances before sliding off their Striders. The younger redhead eyed the nearby captors, who continued to hold their weapons casually, but still close enough to ready that she didn’t doubt they would snap up in a moment’s notice, if needed.  


The closest figure waved their weapon toward the Banuk girls, gesturing for them to begin walking after the group’s leader and some of the party that had already begun to follow them. As they fell in step beside Aloy and Talanah, Anukai noted that the shapes she had seen from a distance were yet more ruins, or the tops of them, at least. Twisted, half-destroyed roofs of some kind of large, ancient structures rose from the sand, although one in particular seemed to be located entirely above the ground, or at the very least had not collapsed.  


An undeniable curiosity sparked in the back of Anukai’s mind as they approached this ruin, the leader of the group once again not slowing nor looking back to make sure everyone was following. As they reached the front of the structure, they led the way through a narrower opening that looked almost as if it had actually been an entrance, even in the time of the Old ones. Once they were inside, Anukai noted that it seemed to bear a similarity to many of the other large ruins she had encountered in Banuk lands, with the interior half-destroyed and numerous open holes in the roof overhead, although signs of what had once filled the room remained.  


Ancient, metal chairs and tables were scattered about the space, along with what appeared to be the strange, metal benches like the ones she had seen inside Thunder’s Drum and the Nora mountain. No lights emitted from these surfaces, however, as they appeared to have long since lost all hope of functioning. As they approached a wall ahead of them, however, she noted that a single, metal door was set in the center of it, but it appeared to have been propped open much more recently, with repurposed pieces of metal beams dug into the ground, the opposite ends jammed into the upper corners of the doorway.  


The group narrowed to nearly a single-file line as they passed through the doorway and into the space beyond. As they entered, Anukai glanced around to find that the space beyond was almost entirely nondescript, without any of the metal that had been in the previous room, even. The one thing she did note as they continued farther into the space was how everyone’s footsteps seemed to echo and ring, as if walking on a metal surface. As the group came to a stop in the middle of the room, she glanced down to find that the floor was, in fact, made of metal. The hair on the back of her neck began to stand on end as she glanced back up toward the leader of the group just as they pointed to their right.  


The younger redhead’s gaze followed the motion just in time to see one of the other group members step up to the wall and hit something on it with their fist. A moment later, the floor lurched and the four travelling women all jumped in surprise, glancing around in surprise, just before a loud whirring sound filled the air and the floor began to sink.  


Anukai’s heart rate skyrocketed as she glanced around at the walls slowly rising above their heads. The moving platform that made up the floor quickly descended into near total darkness, quickly prompting the younger redhead to reach out for Ikrie, finding her arm a moment later. The other girl quickly grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly, as Anukai tried to control her own breathing.  


A few moments later, the path of the platform seemed to change, curving forward with a slight jerking motion, while still continuing to descend. Ikrie squeezed Anukai’s hand even tighter for a moment, prompting the redhead to tighten her grip, as well. A moment later, a faint, purple light seemed to pass over the platform, revealing the crowd around them for a moment, before it quickly faded. Both girls froze in place for several moments before the light flickered, once again, although this time Anukai noted the small patch of light that seemed to be emitting the strange glow as it slid by before them.  


“How far down does this go?” Ikrie whispered.  


“Hopefully not much…”  


A few moments later, the whirring began to slow and the floor came to a stop with a slight jerking motion, once again. A moment later, a singular, red light appeared from the darkness before them, and Anukai’s entire body tensed, once again. The light suddenly extended forward, seemingly scanning over the front portion of the crowd, before a chime, not unlike the one she had heard on her Focus before, echoed about the space.  


“Life signs confirmed. Entry permitted.”  


A moment later, the space was lit by a flood of light, prompting Anukai to squint her eyes until they had adjusted, once again. As they did, she found that the red light had come from a large, metal door that was now just beginning to slide open before them. Once the sides had retreated into the rectangular frame around it, the leader of the group stepped forward, quickly entering the space beyond.  


Anukai continued to stare ahead in dumbstruck silence as she absentmindedly followed the rest of the group through the doorway.  


The space beyond immediately felt like stepping into another world.  


Every surface was made of metal, like the interiors of Thunder’s Drum and the ruin where inside the Nora mountain, but this one seemed… much more intact. Large, metal crates seemed to dot the hallway where they had found themselves, although none of them appeared particularly degraded or weathered. Lighting glowed from the ceiling overhead, providing a strange, harsh look to everything that was most definitely not natural.  


As they reached an intersection in hallways, the leader of the group suddenly came to a stop, whirling around to face one of the other figures. They appeared to converse quietly, but Anukai was much too far away to make out a single word, the only hint she received was when the second figure nodded and gestured to another one of the group before pointing to the four travelers.  


The figure nearby nodded and turned to the women, nodding toward the leader and the other figure ahead of them.  


“After them.”  


Anukai swallowed nervously, but fell in step behind Aloy and Talanah as the two figures ahead of them turned and continued down the hallway to their left, while the rest of the group of captors continued straight, many of them beginning to quietly converse, now. The smaller group continued along the narrower hallway past a series of nondescript doors, but even as they went, Anukai noted how glyphs made of light flickered and appeared above and on the metal surfaces.  


“It’s all… still here,” she heard Aloy mutter softly as she, too, glanced around.  


The younger redhead swallowed nervously as she felt Ikrie squeeze her hand, once again, and she glanced down to realize that the dark-haired girl had returned her deathgrip even after exiting the dark space. Anukai glanced up at Ikrie to find her glancing back with a nervous expression still on her face. The redhead tried to offer a reassuring smile, but she could feel how forced it was.  


A moment later, she glanced forward to find that the group was coming to a stop, which prompted the Banuk girls to quickly release their hands from between them, Anukai glancing back to find that the third figure was still following behind them and prompting the hair on the back of her neck to raise.  


When she turned to face forward, once again, she found the leader figure had disappeared inside a doorway to their right, leaving the other figure standing outside. They nodded through the open doorway, which prompted Talanah and Aloy to glance inside warily before slowly complying. Anukai and Ikrie tentatively approached, glancing inside, as well, only to find that the space beyond was not some kind of torture or execution chamber, but a seemingly innocuous room with what appeared to be more personal decorations littered about than in the hallways.  


The younger redhead took a deep breath before leading the way into the room, Ikrie following closely behind. A moment later, a soft hissing and a loud, metallic thud sounded from behind them and the girls whirled around to find that the door had slid closed behind them, but neither of the other figures had entered.  


They turned back to the other figures in the room to find that the mysterious leader figure had come to a stop against the far wall, where a metal bench was littered with various pieces of equipment, candles, and other strange odds and ends that Anukai didn’t immediately recognize. The Banuk girls joined Aloy and Talanah a few yards away from the figure as they all remained silent, waiting for whatever was about to happen.  


The figure remained with their back to them for several moments before letting out what sounded like a heavy sigh.  


“I have some questions.”  


The voice was muffled by the fabric over their face, but something about it made the hair on the back of Anukai’s neck stand on end, her heart rate quickening. Just then, the figure reached toward their face, pulling the eye protection free before placing it on the bench before them. They remained still for a moment longer before also reaching up to undo the fabric wrapped about their head, pulling it free in one smooth motion before turning back to the captive group.  


Immediately, Anukai’s eyes widened as she felt her heart slam to a sudden stop from its pounding tempo a moment ago, a cold feeling sinking into her entire body as she stared back at the figure before them.  


“And I have a feeling you do, too.”  


Anukai’s mind had gone blank as she stared back at the face across from her, a mirror image of her own, down to the freckles across her cheekbones and the gold-green hazel of her eyes. The only marked difference she could immediately discern was the hairstyle, the woman across from them having cut hers short and close to her head, with the sides shorter than the top, which was currently pulled back and tied into a short, bun-like shape at the back of her head, but its color was undeniably a fiery red.  


A moment or two of silence followed as she continued to glance between Anukai and Aloy until one of them finally spoke.  


“You… you’re…” Anukai stammered.  


“Ara,” the girl cut in. “Let’s talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated ending this one when they were captured, but I decided I just couldn't pass up that ending.
> 
> We're getting close to the end of this installment, by the way.
> 
> See you next week.


	12. Remnants of the Old World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy monday, y'all.
> 
> It's getting hard to believe we're living in real life, anymore... but, we're still here, so this train ain't stopping.
> 
> So this past week I've had a lot of time at home (like all of us) and actually ended up creating some extra content, if y'all haven't seen or are interested.
> 
> 1) I made an original song based on the brilliant story [Of Mother and Machine](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18405200/chapters/43590269) by imagine0314. It's an instrumental song, and it's called [I'll Always Call You Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192965). Check it out, if you want, and then read that story if you haven't yet.
> 
> 2) I wrote a little "feel good" piece that's part of a new idea that I had to create "Story DLC" to this and the Living Systems trilogy that allows me to either fill in the blanks that these stories sometimes leave, or just add some little fun ideas that don't have a place in the main stories. Right now, I've got a little "feel good" piece up called [Have Faith in Instinct](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23205982). I needed something happy, and thought others could use it, too, so there's my contribution.
> 
> Well, in stark contrast to that, this week is going to be a bit of a wrecking ball in this story.
> 
> To quote one of my favorite bands, Bring Me The Horizon, "I apologize if you feel something."
> 
> Enjoy?

The two travelling redheads exchanged incredulous glances as the girl across from them folded her arms over her chest.  


“Well, since no one seems to know what to say,” she began. “Let’s start with your names.”  


Her eyebrows raised expectantly as the group all seemed to slowly regain their composures. After the two dark-haired women spoke up, all gazes rested on the two remaining redheads in the middle of the room. After several long, uncomfortable moments, Anukai cleared her throat first.  


“Anukai.”  


The new redhead repeated her name slowly, nodding, before turning her gaze to Aloy.  


“And finally…?”  


“Aloy,” she answered.  


“Well, now that we’re getting acquainted,” Ara sighed. “Let’s just get right to the real question, here. Why do the three of us look nearly identical?”  


She gestured between herself and the other redheads, her expression clearly hoping that one of them would have an answer.  


“You must… you two must be…” Aloy said slowly, glancing between the two younger redheads.  


Finally, she took a deep breath, turning back to Ara.  


“I have a theory.”  


“And I’d love to hear it,” the girl replied, shifting her stance impatiently.  


“Do you… do you have parents?”  


Ara blinked in surprise, recoiling slightly, but finally she cleared her throat, shaking her head.  


“Not especially.”  


“Someone who didn’t look like you raised you?”  


“Not especially.”  


A moment of silence fell over the room, once again, before Aloy cleared her throat.  


“Right… well…” she continued, “we’ll stick with that idea of not knowing any parents. I take it you were found by someone, most likely in or near some kind of cave?”  


Ara nodded slowly, her expression slowly beginning to pale.  


“Well… we all seem to have that in common, too,” Aloy sighed.  


“Wait, so… you’re _not_ about to tell me you’re my mother or anything like that?” the new redhead cut in.  


Aloy visibly shifted uncomfortably, swallowing forcefully before shaking her head.  


“No… no I’m not.”  


Ara sighed, shaking her head as she rubbed at her eyes with one hand.  


“Of course. It’s not the easy answer…”  


“How old are you?”  


The new redhead sighed, letting her hand fall by her side, once again as she began to pace.  


“I’d say… end of my twentieth year this summer.”  


Anukai shivered, quickly folding her arms over her chest as she tried to hide the gesture, but she caught the new redhead’s eyes instantly snapping toward her for a moment before returning to Aloy.  


“Well, you two seem to be the same age…”  


She gestured to Anukai and Ara, each.  


“So I would say that your births must be tied to the same event.”  


“Which is what?” Ara pressed almost instantly. “So far you’ve just asked questions and haven’t given much. What does being born in or near a cave have to do with anything? Why is it so important that she and I are the same age? If you’re not my mother, then why do you look so much like both of us?”  


Aloy raised her hands defensively as the new redhead sighed, coming to a stop as she folded her arms over her chest.  


“You two being the same age is important because it tell me that what caused her birth, likely caused yours,” the older redhead began, shaking her head. “I… I don’t know what caused it, but we—the two of you and myself—were all—created—for a reason.”  


Both younger redheads shivered, this time, as Anukai caught the somber expression on Talanah’s face as her eyes remained locked on Aloy, her lips beginning to turn down into a frown.  


“Okay, but that’s still not an answer, and now you beg me to ask: what do you mean we were _created_? You make us sound like some kind of machines.”  


“No, we’re…” Aloy suddenly paused, reaching to tap her Focus beside her ear for a moment before letting out a small sigh of relief, “we’re real people, but… we were not born of another human being, like everyone else.”  


Ara remained silent, her jaw working tensely as she stared back at Aloy.  


“We were—created—in artificial wombs inside ancient facilities—”  


“Stop.”  


Everyone’s gaze shifted to the new redhead as she bowed her head slightly, taking in a slow, deep breath.  


“I… you’re talking about us being created and artificial wombs and all of this… are you saying that we’re the same person?”  


Anukai blinked in surprise, the realization that the same thought had not come to her anywhere near as quickly crossing her mind for a moment.  


“It’s… essentially, yes.”  


Ara quickly spun on her heel, beginning to pace as she rubbed at her face forcefully for several moments. Finally, she came to a stop, facing the wall to their left, as she held her hands over the lower portion of her face for a few seconds longer. With a heavy sigh, she turned back to the other two redheads.  


“How is that possible?”  


“An ancient technology,” Aloy replied, “known as cloning.”  


“And… it replicates people?”  


“It can, yes.”  


“But… like… are we…”  


“We look the same,” Anukai suddenly said, drawing everyone’s attention at once, prompting her to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat, “but we’re not… the _same_.”  


A heavy silence fell over the room for several long moments before Ara sighed, breaking it.  


“Okay, so… you haven’t said what this ‘event’ that led to us was,” she said, glancing to Aloy as she gestured between Anukai and herself.  


“Because I don’t know,” Aloy shrugged. “Ever since I first met Anukai a few days ago, I’ve been wondering, but haven’t come up with something definitive.”  


With a sigh, the older redhead tapped the device beside her ear.  


“GAIA?”  


Several long, silent moments passed before Aloy’s face contorted in concern.  


“GAIA?” she repeated.  


Several moments later, Ara cleared her throat.  


“Uh… what are you doing?”  


“I… I’m not getting any signal…” Aloy muttered.  


“Signal?”  


“This,” she said, gesturing to the Focus, “should let me communicate with an—ally—but I’m not getting through to her, it seems.”  


“I know what a signal is,” Ara smirked. “We are deep underground, though. Not much gets in or out of here.”  


“Wait… you… do?”  


Ara’s smirk deepened as she nodded toward the door where they had entered.  


“Let me show you around a bit.”  


With that, the new redhead slipped past the group and led the way toward the door, twisting the glowing circle over the center of it. As the door slid open before her, she glanced back to see that none of the others had moved.  


“Well?”  


Anukai blinked out of her daze, glancing toward Ikrie to find her also looking back at her with a wary expression.  


“You’ll be fine if you’re with me,” Ara said. “Besides, we’re not exactly bandits here.”  


“Not exactly?” Anukai shot back, turning to her, once again.  


“Well… sometimes you have to do what you have to do to survive,” she shrugged, “but we don’t typically do that by killing and robbing others.”  


“Just abducting them…?” Ikrie muttered under her breath, which instantly drew the new redhead’s attention.  


“It was my decision to bring you here,” she snapped, “and—well—now you know why.”  


Finally, Aloy was the one to break the stalemate, sighing and beginning to follow after the new redhead. Talanah quickly followed after her, with Anukai and Ikrie bringing up the rear, once again. As they entered the hallway outside, Aloy cleared her throat.  


“So if you’re all the way down here, and you know about signals, do you have a means of sending or receiving them?”  


“This place has some things left over from the Ancient World,” Ara nodded, glancing over at her. “For the first few weeks we were here, we didn’t really know how they functioned, but the past few days… well, suddenly things started to work out of nowhere.”  


Anukai caught how Aloy shot a wary look to Talanah behind Ara’s back as she began to lead them down the hallway toward the path they had followed on the way in.  


“What do you mean?”  


“Exactly that,” Ara sighed, “lots of things here were dormant when we arrived, and then in the past few days… lights start turning on, locked doors opened…”  


“And you don’t know why?”  


“No, we don’t,” Ara replied, shaking her head before coming to a stop in the center of the intersection they had reached shortly after entering the strange, metal world. “Maybe that’s where you can help.”  


“Oh, why?” Anukai suddenly said, a strange, tight feeling appearing in her chest.  


Ara eyed her for a moment or two in silence, an unreadable expression on her face.  


“I didn’t bring you here to kill you,” she said. “I’m not trying to be your enemy.”  


“Anukai…” Aloy said quietly, glancing toward her.  


The Banuk redhead clamped her jaw shut tightly, folding her arms over her chest as she otherwise remained silent. The older redhead sighed as she turned back to Ara, who glanced between them for a moment before clearing her throat.  


“So, shall we?”  


With that, Ara led the group down the main hallway away from the door where they had first entered. As they continued, Anukai glanced at the glowing lights over the doors they passed, noticing patterns in the glyphs in them, but nothing immediately told her what was on the other side.  


“How did you find this place?” Aloy asked.  


“We set out in this direction on some advice from someone we met in Reva.”  


“Reva?”  


“A city farther to the… northwest,” Ara shrugged. “We weren’t there long.”  


“Where do you come from, then?” the older redhead pressed.  


“Southwest of here, actually,” the new redhead replied, gesturing vaguely to her left.  


“Do you have a tribe you… grew up with?”  


“Out here, there’s not quite as many ‘tribes’,” Ara said. “People organize around cities and settlements, or they’re drifters—like us.”  


Just then, Ara turned to her left, twisting the green, light-circle over the center of a door to the sound of a strange chime. A moment later, when the door slid open, the sound of many loud voices spilled out of the space beyond. With a smirk, Ara stepped inside, the rest of the party following more slowly behind her. Immediately upon entering, they were overwhelmed by the amount of voices and the flurry of motion inside the relatively contained space.  


As Anukai glanced around, she noticed that they appeared to be surrounded by the entire group of people who had led them back from the ancient city, as well as even a few more. They had all removed the cloths from their heads, as well as the eye protection, just like Ara, and she was finally able to see just how diverse of a group they were. She quickly made out a range of people, stretching from younger individuals about her and Ara’s age, with some perhaps even younger, to some older adults that appeared to be even a decade or so older than Aloy and Talanah.  


Much like the crowds she had seen in Meridian, they were all clearly not from the same places, with multiple skin colors, hair styles, and accents that all swirled around her to form a general blur of people and sounds, prompting her to feel as if she were constantly glancing around, unable to remain still.  


The room they had entered was larger than the one where they had first been led to speak with Ara, and seemed to have long, metal tables scattered about, almost like those near the roasting fires back in the Cut’s settlements. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the undeniable smell of something cooking reached her, and she glanced around to note that many of the people were holding plates or pieces of food as they talked, laughed, and milled about.  


A tug on her arm brought her focus back from glancing around at everything to find Ikrie nodding ahead of them. She glanced up to see that Ara and the older women had moved farther into the crowd, and the Banuk girls quickly began to follow after them. As they did, Anukai caught multiple double takes and incredulous glances from the people they passed, all aimed directly at her, and she tried to ignore them as she pressed onward.  


Finally, they caught up to the others ahead of them as they appeared to have come to a stop before a long, metal bench with no seats around it. On top of this bench, however, were plates of the food everyone around them was eating.  


“You all hungry?” Ara asked over the din, glancing back.  


Ikrie and Anukai glanced to each other warily, but Aloy and Talanah simply nodded.  


“Here, my treat,” the new redhead replied, grinning, as she handed them plates.  


When she turned to Anukai and Ikrie, she raised her eyebrows slightly, tentatively offering them food, as well. The Banuk redhead took it with a small nod and what felt like a forced, small smile. Ara eyed her for a moment or two before taking her own and leading them to the far side of the crowd, once again, where there was some more open space. When they finally came to a stop, Anukai glanced down at the food, for the first time.  


It appeared to be some kind of roasted meat and bread that was somehow crumbly and moist, simultaneously. As she tore a piece off and popped it into her mouth, she found that it was also a strange mixture of savory and sweet, but quickly found herself taking more. As they began to eat, a figure approached their group from the crowd, nudging Ara with his elbow.  


“I heard that you found some others who looked like you,” he said, grinning, “but I was still not adequately prepared.”  


“Neither was I,” Ara laughed. “Horan, this is Talanah, Aloy, Anukai, and Ikrie.”  


She gestured to each of them as she spoke, the man nodding at each one. He was clearly one of the older members of the group, with hair that was almost entirely grey. His beard retained slightly more of its dark coloring, while the left side sported a notable gap where a scar ran from his cheekbone to his jaw. Despite his aged and grizzled appearance, he wore a broad smile on his face as he glanced around at the new group of women.  


“Everyone, this is Horan,” Ara said, gesturing to the man. “His daughter and he are are our healers who’ve done everything for us from curing some small ailments to saving our lives from some near-death scrapes.”  


The man simply laughed as he shook his head.  


“Someone has to look after the rest of you,” he replied, before turning to the new women. “So, may I ask about the uncanny resemblance?”  


Aloy and Anukai exchanged glances before the older redhead sighed.  


“We’re still working on it, ourselves.”  


The man continued to nod slowly before shrugging.  


“Well, if you’re here with Ara, you’re in good hands.”  


The new redhead rolled her eyes but laughed as the man stepped away to the sound of someone else calling his name. As Anukai watched him go, she noticed a girl around her age with olive skin and some kind of cloth holding back quite a head of curly hair from her face immediately talking to him as he approached.  


“His daughter,” Ara chimed in, seemingly noticing her stare. “He’s a good man. Don’t worry about him.”  


Anukai cleared her throat, glancing back at the new redhead and nodding, but otherwise remaining silent. Ara frowned slightly, but it only lasted for a moment before Aloy drew her attention, once again.  


“So you said you were told about this place?” she asked.  


“We were,” the new redhead nodded. “There were stories about it being some important, ancient bunker hidden out in the middle of the desert. There were rumors that it had been untouched since the fall of the Old Ones, but… well, we didn’t believe that it would be in quite this good of condition.”  


“True,” Aloy nodded. “If there were going to be a place to withstand a thousand years so well, it’d probably be this one, though.”  


Silence fell over the group for several long moments as Anukai felt the hair on the back of her neck raising as she glanced toward the older redhead to find her picking at some of her food, but seemingly unphased by what had just come out of her mouth.  


“Do you know what this place is?” Ara asked slowly.  


“Well, if memory serves… I’d say it was a highly classified military blacksite used for developing experimental weaponry,” Aloy shrugged. “It was an offshoot of Edwards Air Force base, and everyone called it Area 51, but I don’t know if that was its official name.”  


By the end of her explanation, all four of the other women were staring at her with wide eyes, Talanah’s face having paled considerably.  


“Aloy…” the Carja woman said slowly, “how do you know all that?”  


The older redhead opened her mouth to reply before suddenly freezing, a strange, distant look appearing in her eyes for a moment or two before she squeezed them shut tightly, shaking her head.  


“I… I, uh…”  


Just then, someone called Ara’s name from across the room and she jumped, glancing back before quickly muttering something about how she would be right back and slipping away, leaving the travelling women alone at their portion of the metal bench. As Anukai turned back to Aloy, she found Talanah with her arm wrapped around Aloy’s back, her hands braced on the redhead’s shoulders as she spoke too softly for the others to hear.  


Aloy was still shaking her head, but had put her plate down, and was rubbing at her eyes with both hands. Anukai swallowed nervously as she glanced over at Ikrie to see her offering a similarly uncertain expression in return.  


“I-I know, Talanah!”  


They both jumped at Aloy’s sudden outburst, glancing back to find Talanah recoiling for a moment before pressing forward, once again, her grip shifting to wrapping both arms around the redhead’s shoulders as she placed a kiss at the side of her jaw before continuing to speak softly to her. Aloy reached one hand up toward Talanah’s arm, gripping it securely as she slowly ran her thumb over it, her gaze still vacant and unfocused as she stared at the bench before them.  


Anukai and Ikrie tried to stop themselves from staring as they turned to each other, but the dark-haired girl’s expression did little to help the Banuk redhead’s discomfort building in her chest.  


“H-how… how are you feeling with all of this?” Ikrie finally managed.  


Anukai sighed, shaking her head as she closed her eyes.  


“I think that if I thought meeting Aloy was a lot… this goes far beyond that.”  


Ikrie nodded in response, tearing off a piece of the meat on her plate and popping it into her mouth.  


“Same for me,” she said around the food in her mouth.  


“I… I want to know whatever this ‘event’ Aloy mentioned that led to my—to me,” Anukai stammered, “is, too.”  


The redhead glanced down at her plate of food, picking at it, as well, before Ikrie’s hand gripped her arm and she glanced up. The dark-haired girl offered a small smile as Anukai felt her thumb running over her arm, slowly. Anukai slowly offered one in return as they both exchanged small nods. Just then, Ara appeared on the other side of the bench behind Ikrie and she jumped, releasing Anukai’s arm.  


“So, you asked about a way to send and receive signals, before,” the new redhead said, sighing. “You still interested?”  


Anukai glanced toward Aloy and Talanah to find that the Carja woman was now simply standing with one arm over the redhead’s shoulders, both of them seeming more relaxed than they had a few moments ago. Aloy nodded, and the rest of the group finished what they could of their food before Ara took the plates back up to where they had received them.  


As she walked away, Anukai caught Talanah leaning in to speak softly in Aloy’s ear once again, prompting the redhead to smile and laugh as she nodded. They glanced to each other before exchanging a brief kiss just as Ara returned.  


“Okay, follow me,” she said, glancing toward the two older women with an unreadable expression for a moment before it quickly turned into a smirk.  


With that, she led the group back into the hallway outside, providing instant relief from the noise and bustle of the room they had just left, and leaving Anukai rubbing at her ears for a moment or two. Ara led them farther down the hallway in the direction they had followed earlier, moving past even more closed doors with glowing symbols over them.  


Finally, just as Anukai had begun to wonder if the hallway, itself, was beginning to repeat and loop, Ara came to a stop before a door on the right and opened it. As they stepped through it, they quickly found themselves on a very narrow, metal pathway with metal railing on either side. In addition to the single-file platform, the room beyond was rather dark, with only faint lighting from far overhead to provide any sort of visibility of where they were going. The light spilled over the walkway at regular intervals, but large portions were completely dark, still.  


Anukai glanced over at Ikrie to find her swallowing nervously beside her.  


“I’ll be right behind you,” she said softly.  


The dark-haired girl glanced over at her before nodding. With a deep breath, she followed after Ara, stepping onto the metal walkway. Anukai followed only a step or two behind her, noting how a feeling in her stomach seemed to sink as soon as she stepped through the doorway. She glanced over the railing to her right, squinting through the darkness to try to see what may have caused it, but nothing seemed to immediately stand out. A few moments later, she realized that the portions of the ground she believed she could make out below them were actually quite far away, and the realization that they were walking on something suspended quite far above the ground quickly came over her.  


Swallowing nervously, she turned back to Ikrie before her, keeping her eyes locked on the back of the dark-haired huntress’s head, or the new redhead several yards ahead of them. They continued walking for several long moments, their footsteps echoing as if they were inside some sort of massive cave, before she saw a portion of the darkness ahead of them slide open to reveal a small rectangle of light.  


When she focused closer, she realized it was Ara standing in a doorway, glancing back to wait for the rest of them to reach her. When they finally did, Ikrie quickly stepped forward into the well-lit hallway beyond, letting out a heavy sigh as she glanced back at Anukai. The redhead offered a small smile, squeezing her shoulder before glancing over at Ara.  


“What was that place?”  


“What?” the new redhead replied, glancing over at her.  


“Where we just passed through… what was it?”  


“You’ll see,” Ara replied, smirking.  


Anukai eyed her warily, but a moment later Aloy and Talanah stepped through the doorway, drawing the new redhead’s attention away from her.  


“This way.”  


She continued onward, leading them along the new hallway until they came to a more imposing doorway, the light-glyphs over it glowing a foreboding red color.  


“Hold for identiscan,” an unnatural voice barked as Ara came to a stop before it.  


A moment later, a red light, much like the one Anukai had seen in Thunder’s Drum and the Nora mountain, suddenly shot from a point at the top of the door, slowly passing over Ara before a chiming sound echoed about the hallway.  


“Entrance authorized: Doctor Elisabet Sobeck.”  


A shiver ran through Anukai before she glanced over to realize that Aloy must have reacted similarly when their eyes met. Both of them drew their lips into thin lines before turning to follow Ara into the room beyond.  


“So you never questioned why it called you that name?” Anukai asked.  


“Still do,” Ara shrugged, “but it gets me where I want to go, and I haven’t been one to question that part.”  


The Banuk redhead frowned slightly, but fell silent as they began to ascend a short staircase to another doorway, although this one simply opened as Ara approached. Immediately upon entering, Anukai’s eyes widened.  


The room beyond immediately brought back memories of the bunker inside the Nora mountain, with numerous metal benches scattered about the space, some attached to the walls, some free-standing, but all of these ones glowed with the lights and glyphs as the ones in the mountain had once Elisabet had told her to “restore” the light. What struck her the most, however, was that these projections appeared to not be operating in some kind of repeating loop, but were actively showing new information, including images. Anukai stepped over to a nearby one in a daze, staring at the image in the center of the box of blue light.  


After several long moments of staring at it, she frowned. It seemed to be some kind of symbol, but it wasn’t one she could remember ever seeing before.  


“United States Air Force.”  


She jumped at the sound of the voice beside her, glancing over to find Aloy staring at the image, as well.  


“You recognize this?”  


“It’s what it says on it,” Aloy pointed to the image.  


Anukai turned back to the symbol, noting that a series of glyphs ran around the outer, circular portion of it.  


“You can read ancient glyphs?”  


“I learned as a child,” Aloy nodded, gesturing to her focus. “It taught me, and… well, now it translates most things for me, as well, if need be.”  


“So… can mine?” Anukai asked softly.  


“I’d probably have to program it to do so, but sure,” the older redhead nodded. “I’ll take a look at it later and see what I can do. Do Banuk use glyphs?”  


“It’s not exactly like Carja glyphs,” the younger redhead shook her head, “more like… images that have meanings associated with them.”  


Aloy nodded slowly, chewing the inside of her cheek.  


“I can probably get it to read them aloud to you… might be easier, for now.”  


Anukai nodded, finding a grin tugging at her lips as a somewhat giddy feeling appeared in her chest.  


“Sounds great.”  


Aloy glanced over at her, grinning as well, before the sound of someone clearing her throat drew their attentions back to the front of the room. Ara was standing beside one of the metal benches, smirking.  


“Here’s your signal source,” she said, gesturing to the bench beside her.  


Aloy nodded and the travelling redheads made their way over to her. As soon as they approached, Aloy tapped her Focus, staring down at the bench before her for several moments before she tapped at something in the air before her. Her lips twisted into a slight frown for a few moments before she tapped at several more things in the air before her.  


As curiosity rolled over her, Anukai tapped her Focus as well. Suddenly, the images Aloy had clearly been staring at suddenly appeared before her, as well, revealing a box of blue light with numerous sections of glyphs and images displayed about it. Trying to take it all in made Anukai feel as if her head was spinning, though, and she quickly tapped her Focus, clearing it from her field of view.  


A few moments later, Aloy tapped the air emphatically before letting out a triumphant “aha!” and stepping back from the bench.  


“GAIA, can you hear me?”  


A few moments of silence passed before a chime sounded in Anukai’s ear and a familiar voice followed.  


“Indeed I can, Aloy,” GAIA said. “My readings based on your transmission do not give a definitive location, however you have been unreachable for some time. Is everything all right?”  


“We’re fine, GAIA,” Aloy sighed. “We’re… well, it’s a bit crazy to explain where we are.”  


“My efforts to triangulate your position have been unsuccessful,” the light-woman continued. “Where are you, Aloy?”  


“I think… we’re at the old ‘Area 51’ site.”  


Silence followed for several long moments before GAIA replied.  


“Your signal does contain encryption that matches data from United States government channels,” she confirmed. “How did you locate this site?”  


“We were led here by someone,” Aloy said, glancing over at Ara, who was watching her expectantly. “I think we all need to talk.”  


“Certainly, Aloy,” GAIA replied. “I am intrigued by your statement.”  


The older redhead smirked before beginning to tap at the light-box once again, presumably. Several moments later, she paused before jabbing something more emphatically than the others, leaving her hand in the same place for a moment or two.  


A moment later, light out of the corner of her eye drew Anukai’s attention to the far side of the room. As she turned around, a whirlwind of what appeared to be particles of light suddenly began to take shape in the open space before the far wall. Several moments later, the image of GAIA had fully formed in the middle of the floor, her flowing, golden dress standing out against the dark grey of the metal wall behind her.  


A gasp sounded from beside Anukai and she glanced over to find Ara recoiling in shock, her eyes wide and mouth agape as she stared back at the image of GAIA. A smirk found its way onto the Banuk redhead’s features as she glanced over at Aloy to find the older redhead approaching the woman made of light.  


“It is good to see you again, Aloy,” the light-woman said, smiling.  


“You can see in here?” the older redhead asked, gesturing about the room.  


“Yes, I have full access to the cameras for communication purposes, currently,” she said, nodding.  


“Then I think you need to meet someone.”  


Aloy turned back to Ara and gestured for her to come closer. The new redhead slowly moved toward her, as if in a trance, eyes still fixed on the woman made of light. As she approached, GAIA also suddenly let out a gasp, eyes widening in surprise.  


“Aloy… she is… not Anukai?” the light-woman said.  


“Nope.”  


Ara came to a stop beside Aloy as she and GAIA seemed to be locked in an incredulous staring match. Finally, Aloy broke the silence by clearing her throat, drawing Ara’s attention to her.  


“Go on. Introduce yourself.”  


The new redhead turned back to GAIA, swallowing nervously before speaking.  


“I’m Ara.”  


“Ara…” GAIA repeated slowly, still staring back at her. “If the information I have available is correct, she is another…”  


“Yeah, we’ve pretty much confirmed that,” Aloy replied, nodding. “GAIA, I have a different question for you.”  


The light-woman turned her gaze to Aloy as the older redhead took a deep breath.  


“GAIA… do you have a reason why?”  


“I… I do not have a definitive answer, Aloy,” the light-woman replied, shaking her head. “I did not with Anukai, and the revelation that there are other clones of a similar age does not confirm any theories I had previously.”  


“Well, any theories you might have would be great,” the older redhead sighed, “because all I have is that the same event must have led to both Anukai and Ara.”  


The light-woman nodded as the new redhead beside Aloy cleared her throat.  


“C-can… can I ask a question?” she said slowly.  


Aloy turned to her with a curious expression as Ara cleared her throat.  


“Who… who is she?” she asked, gesturing to GAIA.  


“Oh, right…” Aloy said, glancing toward the light-woman.  


“My name is GAIA,” she explained, turning to the new redhead with a soft smile. “I am an artificial intelligence that was created with the purpose of aiding in the wellbeing of the world after the fall of the society you may know as the Old Ones.”  


“You’re… from the ancient world?” Ara said incredulously. “Like this place?”  


“Based on Aloy’s description and the information I have discerned, it would appear that your current location was also a construction of theirs, yes.”  


The new redhead shook her head, letting out a shaky sigh.  


“But… you look like a person…”  


“This is a projection that I created for myself,” GAIA explained. “While this image was based upon features and data from real people, it is a newly-created representation, so that it is easier to communicate with others, and… to help me feel more a part of the real world during those conversations.”  


Ara fell silent for a few moments before letting out a round of quiet laughter, shaking her head, once again.  


“First I meet two people who look like me, then they bring a woman made of light who’s…”  


She began to pace away as Aloy frowned slightly, but turned back to GAIA.  


“So, GAIA, back to that question of why…”  


“You said earlier that both Anukai and Ara share a birthdate, correct?”  


“That seems to be the case,” Aloy nodded.  


“Based upon what I can gather of physical maturity—”  


“They’re just about twenty years old, GAIA,” the older redhead cut in, clearing her throat. “Just… that seems easier.”  


“Twenty years of age,” the light-woman repeated, nodding.  


“Was there anything significant you remember from back then?”  


“That was very close to the time I returned to Meridian.” GAIA stated.  


“Okay, but… what was going on around then? You weren’t fully functional at the Prime site, yet.”  


“No, but…”  


Suddenly, GAIA’s eyes widened as she focused on Aloy, once again.  


“Aloy, shortly after I returned, we tested the first broadcast from the MINERVA towers.”  


Anukai and Ara both perked up, glancing between Aloy and GAIA, the Banuk girl’s heart beginning to pound in her ears as she felt a cold sweat break out on her palms.  


“And you think that somehow did something to trigger more Cradles?”  


“Cursory checks of the logs from when those transmissions were sent do not show such information, however I will begin running more thorough diagnostics to determine if they were, perhaps, hidden within other sections of the coding.”  


“Sounds good,” Aloy sighed, rubbing at her eyes tiredly before pausing and turning toward Ara. “You said that you had started to see things begin to function, once again, around here recently, right?”  


The new redhead remained silent for several moments before she realized Aloy was talking to her and she quickly cleared her throat.  


“Yeah, lights, these consoles,” she said, gesturing about the room. “Just… every now and then it’s been something new.”  


“How long were you here before that happened?”  


“About two weeks.”  


“Well, there goes that theory,” Aloy sighed, glancing toward GAIA, once again. “Do you think that’s anything to be concerned about?”  


“I do not know, at this time, Aloy,” the light-woman shook her head, “but I may investigate it, as well. Perhaps there may be some correlation between the two.”  


“Sounds—” Aloy paused as a deep yawn escaped her, “—sounds good.”  


“I will contact you as soon as I have come across anything definitive, or once I have completed all checks,” GAIA said, grinning. “It is nearly morning, and I sense you have not slept. You should do so.”  


Aloy rolled her eyes but nodded.  


“Sure thing.”  


“I will contact you again, soon,” GAIA said, smiling. “I wish you a pleasant rest in the meantime.”  


With that, the light-woman flickered out on the opposite side of the room, leaving them in silence. Several moments later, the sound of another yawn prompted Anukai to glance over to find Ikrie trying to stifle hers as best she could, but with little success.  


“I can get you all places to sleep,” Ara said, glancing around. “Seeing as—well—we interrupted yours earlier.”  


Anukai nodded, her lips drawing into a thin line as the new redhead’s gaze fell on her.  


“Sorry.”  


With that, she led the way back out of the signal room and across the strange, metal walkway. Ikrie seemed somewhat less nervous as she moved across it this time, but Anukai noted that her motions also held the tell-tale signs that she was just incredibly tired. When they reached the original hallway on the far side of the cavernous, dark room, Ara led them back toward where they had eaten earlier, before turning down another hallway that Anukai had missed earlier.  


She passed several doors before stopping in the middle of the hallway and gesturing to either side of her.  


“Each of these should be free,” she said. “Take your pick.”  


Ikrie glanced between them before moving toward the one to their right, prompting Anukai to grin and follow after her.  


“Like—uh—like GAIA said,” Ara started, “it must be nearing sunrise now. Usually those of us who do night runs tend to sleep somewhat late the next day, so don’t worry about anyone trying to wake you up before at least midday.”  


They all nodded as Aloy and Talanah approached the door across the hall from the younger Banuk girls.  


“Sounds like hopefully we’ll have something more to talk about then,” Ara said, turning to walk backward as she began to move back toward the main hallway, once again.  


“Hopefully…” Aloy sighed.  


“Sleep well.”  


With that, the new redhead spun on her heel and quickly disappeared around the corner of the hallway. The travelling women remained outside their doors for several moments before Anukai glanced toward Aloy and Talanah across from her.  


“You two okay?” the Carja woman asked.  


“Yeah, fine,” Anukai shrugged. “Why?”  


“Just… making sure.”  


“Just tired,” Ikrie chimed in. “See you when we wake up?”  


Talanah glanced over at her, a small smile tugging at her lips.  


“Yeah, see you then.”  


With that, each pair turned to enter their rooms, Anukai holding her hand over the circle of green light and twisting it, as she had seen Ara do before. With a chime, the door slid open, revealing a mostly bare space, although two flat, metal surfaces that seemed as if they were intended to be beds were fastened to the walls to their left and right. The Banuk girls stepped into the room, glancing around for a few moments longer, taking in the entirely metal space, before turning back to each other.  


“I take it you don’t want to use these bed things?” Anukai asked, smirking as she nodded toward the furniture attached to the walls.  


Ikrie shook her head, glancing at the floor between them.  


“Works for me,” the redhead said, not even waiting for the dark-haired girl to say anything.  


Ikrie’s lips pulled into a tired smile before they both set about unravelling their bedrolls, once again, shaking the sand out of them into the far corner of the room before laying them beside each other on the floor. With a heavy sigh, Anukai began to remove her equipment, stripping down to the basic tunic and leggings beneath her outer clothing before falling onto her back on her bedroll.  


Ikrie did the same, tossing her gear against the wall behind her before falling onto her bedroll and sitting cross-legged beside the redhead. Anukai rolled her head to one side to look over at her.  


“You okay?” she asked quietly.  


“I was going to ask you that,” the dark-haired girl shot back, grinning.  


“I’m… well, I’ve been better, but… fine,” Anukai shrugged.  


“You sure?”  


The redhead sighed, rubbing at her eyes tiredly.  


“There’s a lot to think about…”  


“So think out loud.”  


Anukai let out a short laugh, turning to look over at Ikrie, once again.  


“You sure?”  


Ikrie nodded firmly, her eyes locked on the redhead.  


“Well… Ara is… a lot to take in,” she began. “She’s… my first thought was that she’s another _me_ , and… it’s so much different than with Aloy.”  


The dark-haired girl remained silent as Anukai sighed.  


“Aloy’s… well, there’s the age difference, so that helps,” she said. “She doesn’t feel like… like we’re the same. Ara—well, now we know she’s not really, but—my first thought was panicking that she was.”  


Silence fell over them for several moments before the redhead swallowed the heavy lump that had formed in her throat.  


“But… never mind.”  


“No, Anukai,” Ikrie said sternly, reaching forward to pull her right arm toward her until she could grasp her hand firmly in her own, “talk to me. Don’t just close off.”  


“Maybe talking about it is not what I need before sleeping,” she replied, shaking her head.  


“Anukai, I’m not… I’m not trying to make this harder for you,” Ikrie said, squeezing her hand even more tightly for a moment. “I want to know exactly where you are with all of this, so I can be there, too.”  


The redhead’s teeth ground for several moments before she let out a huff.  


“Fine, want to know what’s probably not going to let me sleep?” she said, turning her head toward the dark-haired girl, once again. “Everything Aloy and GAIA talked about. They were talking about some ‘event’ that led to Ara’s and my births and… more than ever before, it made me feel like… like something else.”  


“Something else?”  


“Something not… human.”  


She forced herself to close her eyes as she took in the intense expression of sadness that had come over Ikrie’s face. Instantly, a tight, constricting feeling appeared in her chest after her mind had fully registered what she had said aloud, and her throat constricted, preventing her from saying more, even if she had wanted. A moment later, she felt Ikrie release her hand, but the sense of motion from beside her followed almost immediately.  


Just as she was tempted to open her eyes, she felt something warm press up against her side, followed by something tugging at her left arm. When she finally opened them, she found Ikrie lying beside her, incredibly close, with one arm reaching over to tug at her opposite arm, clearly trying to get her to either roll over or position herself closer. Anukai’s jaw clenched for a moment before she obliged, rolling onto her side. Almost immediately, Ikrie wrapped her arm behind the redhead’s back, drawing her head in closer.  


Anukai was surprised when she didn’t find her face pulled in close to the other huntress’s, but instead pulled against her chest, her head turning at the last second so that her face wasn’t entirely buried in the other girl’s clothing. A moment later, Ikrie’s hand appeared on the back of Anukai’s head, gently stroking over the top of her hair as the dark-haired girl sighed heavily.  


“You are,” she said softly.  


“I’m what?” Anukai muttered, her heart rate skyrocketing.  


“You _are_ human—a person.”  


“But… no one else talks about their past like that…”  


“That doesn’t matter,” Ikrie replied, the redhead noting how she could feel her chest vibrate beneath her cheek as she did. “You are, and I know it.”  


Anukai squiremed slightly, which only prompted Ikrie to run her hand over her hair, once again; the sensation of a gentle kiss atop the crown of her head appeared a moment later.  


“The past few nights, do you know what I’ve fallen asleep to?” the dark-haired girl said.  


Anukai shook her head slightly.  


“The sound in your chest,” she said softly. “Your heartbeat feels more like home to me than any physical place.”  


The redhead felt her lower lip tremble for a moment before she bit down it forcefully to try to stop the motion.  


“We’ve well and truly left the world as we knew it behind, but… as long as you’re here… it doesn’t matter to me.”  


Silence fell over them for several moments, once again, as Anukai felt the constricting feeling in her chest beginning to break, replaced with something equally as strong, but much more freeing.  


“I hope… I hope you can feel the same.”  


With the dark-haired girl’s last words, the feeling finally broke inside Anukai, and she found herself throwing her arm over Ikrie, pulling herself even closer and burying her face firmly in her chest as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly against the hot tears that tried to leak from the corners of them. Ikrie’s arm wrapped around the redhead tightly, as well, her head leaning forward so Anukai could feel it resting atop her own.  


Neither of them said anything else, but Anukai could feel Ikrie’s hand gently rubbing circles in her back as her other gently removed the tie holding her braid in place, releasing her mane of hair so she could run her fingers through its entire length. Despite the hot, wet trails that ran down her cheeks, Anukai felt her heart beat slowing, her breathing becoming more regular.  


“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.  


“For what?”  


“For acting like this.”  


“You’re not acting like anything,” Ikrie replied. “I just see Anukai.”  


A fresh set of hot tears ran from her eyes before the redhead tentatively turned her head, gently placing her lips to the exposed skin at Ikrie’s collarbone for a moment before letting her head fall forward into a similar position against her chest, once again.  


Slowly, she began to realize that the world around her seemed to be slipping away, her limbs growing heavy as she fought the losing struggle to hold onto the feeling of the person so close to her, the warmth, the touch… all until only one thing seemed to remain amidst the darkness: a steady, pulsing beat that filled her ears and reverberated through her body.  


In that moment, Ikrie’s words washed over her.  


“ _Your heartbeat feels more like home to me than any physical place._ ”  


Now, it was all that seemed to exist.  


Several moments later, she started to become aware that the steady pulse had changed from a soft, thudding sound to a more high-pitched, synthetic sound. She tried to open her eyes, but found that even though she was certain she had, darkness continued to surround her. As the constant, chiming sound in her ears grew louder, she frantically tried harder to force herself awake, or to really change anything about the total darkness that surrounded her.  


Finally, after she squeezed her eyes shut tightly for several moments, she forced them open, once again, finally revealing light and a world around her. Several rapid blinks later brought the lights and colors into focus, until she found herself staring down at a figure she didn’t recognize. They had their back to her, and appeared to be lying in a bed, draped in a white, cloth blanket.  


Anukai attempted to turn to look around the room, but found that her body didn’t seem to react, instead leaving her staring down at the figure before her, the chiming in her ear still continuing. Just then, the sound of a door opening came from her left, and she found her head turning toward it.  


Confusion washed over her as she saw Talanah enter the room, although she quickly noted that she appeared… younger.  


“It’s nearly midnight,” she said softly.  


“I can’t leave.”  


Anukai’s voice rang in her ears, even though she had not attempted to speak, casting a strange sensation over her as she wanted to shiver, but yet again, her body didn’t seem to react.  


“You being here won’t help GAIA work any faster,” Talanah sighed, gently closing the door behind her and stepping over to her.  


“I know, but I owe it to her.”  


Anukai watched as she gestured to the figure in the bed beside her.  


“You won’t be any help to her, either, if you never sleep,” Talanah sighed. “You’ve barely eaten, either.”  


“Neither has she.”  


“She’s sick, Aloy.”  


Anukai felt a jolt shoot through her as the thoughts that had begun to swirl in her mind as the strange scene had gone on seemed to be confirmed all at once.  


“And you’re not,” Talanah continued, coming to a stop before her and placing one hand on her shoulder. “Please, just… we’ll come back first thing in the morning.”  


“I’m sleeping here, Tal.”  


The Carja woman sighed, hanging her head for a moment before shaking it slowly.  


“Aloy, I’m worried about her, too…”  


“But you’re not the one who put her in the position that caused this!”  


Talanah recoiled at the hissed intensity of the voice, although Anukai could only find a sense of curiosity building in herself.  


“Aloy… you don’t… no, you can’t blame yourself…”  


“I _do_ ,” her voice hissed, once again. “I have every right to.”  


“No, you don’t,” Talanah argued, shaking her head. “You had no way of knowing more than any of us.”  


“I asked her to go back to the Prime site,” the voice that Anukai had come to assume must have been Aloy’s replied. “If I hadn’t…”  


“It was an accident,” Talanah said, placing both hands on her shoulders and holding her in place even more than Anukai already was. “Not even GAIA predicted it.”  


“I should have just gone, when we got those strange readings…”  


Talanah’s eyes widened as she seemed to shake Anukai.  


“Don’t you dare say that.”  


“Why? Because you’d rather it be her than me?”  


Talanah remained silent for several moments, but her expression spoke for her, leading to Anukai suddenly feeling as if she tried to twist away from the Carja woman.  


“Aloy, what do you expect me to say?!” Talanah hissed, trying to hold her in place. “I care for Petra, don’t think that I don’t… but I love _you_ , and how could you expect me to say I’d wish it was you, instead?”  


The redhead seemed to fall still as Anukai heard the sounds of what seemed to be sniffling ringing in her ears.  


“Talanah… someone has to go in to fix it…”  


“No, it’s not going to be you. Not now.”  


“Tal…”  


“I don’t care!” the Carja woman snapped, shifting her hands from the redhead’s shoulders to the sides of her face. “We’ll take our time… find a better way…”  


“We can’t just let all that keep leaking out. You should know how dangerous all that radiation is…”  


“And I also know that sending just a single person in isn’t going to change anything,” she shot back.  


“A single person is all it needs!”  


The Carja woman continued to shake her head as Anukai could feel her hands trembling and yet again. A shiver wanted to work its way down her spine, even as her body didn’t react.  


“It doesn’t have to be you…”  


“Then who? Who else am I going to ask to go to their death?”  


“I don’t know… but… if GAIA said she knows a way to treat it…”  


“She said she might,” the redhead shot back. “She said that she was trying to find information from some ancient files and that she couldn’t guarantee any of that would apply to someone now, because—”  


Talanah suddenly leaned forward, planting a kiss on the redhead and stopping her words in her throat. An even stranger sensation rolled over Anukai at the moment, but it quickly passed as Talanah pulled away.  


“Please, stop…” the Carja woman said, her voice shaking. “We’ll figure all this out, just… whatever it is, I can’t let you destroy yourself doing it.”  


The room fell silent as Anukai was locked into staring directly back at Talanah, whose eyes had begun to grow redder and more watery with each passing moment. Suddenly, a chime sounded in Anukai’s ear, although her body didn’t seem to react.  


“Aloy, I have an update.”  


“I’d love to hear it, GAIA.”  


“I have located the information regarding treatment, however it does include some elements and steps that I do not yet have a completely analoguous solution for in the modern world.”  


“You’re saying that you can’t actually cure it?”  


“Aloy, it took generations to develop anything approaching a true cure to cancer in the Old World…”  


“But we have all that information! We have APOLLO!”  


“Correct, and as I stated—”  


“You stated that you don’t know if we can actually save her, now.”  


“I did not say that we could not try.”  


“We need more than a _try_ , GAIA. We need the answer.”  


“Aloy, I understand your predicament and your concern for Petra—”  


“GAIA, I am not going to let her die because of me!”  


Just then, the image of GAIA appeared behind Talanah, her dress glowing a deep blue as her hands wrung nervously before her.  


“Aloy, I wish I had some way to comfort you…”  


“I don’t need _comforting_!” the redhead spat, finally managing to twist away from Talanah, as well, and stalking several feet away before spinning on her heel, all while Anukai felt a strange sinking sensation in her stomach at the perception of walking while she hadn’t commanded it. “Wasn’t my whole purpose to ‘heal the world’ and all of that?”  


“Aloy, you don’t just have a singular purpose in life, like a—”  


“Like a tool? Like a machine?”  


GAIA physically recoiled, as if struck, while Talanah gasped, one hand covering her mouth as her head slowly began to shake back and forth.  


“It was my idea to rebuild the Prime site. It was my idea that someone needed to go check on it when we saw something strange. Because of both those ideas… Petra was right— _there_ —when the core malfunctioned and drenched the whole place in radiation. I heard the distress call, but Erend was closer. He dragged her back to Meridian, and now he may or may not also be sick. How many more people is it going to take before I’ve sent in everyone I know and care about to die?!”  


Both women across from her remained silent as Anukai could feel her chest heaving as her hands clenched into fists at her sides.  


“How many more… before we all just need to admit that I’m just going to have to live up to my ‘purpose’ and do the same thing I’ve already done before?”  


“ _You_ didn’t do that!” Talanah snapped. “You’re not her!”  


Anukai felt her entire body freeze as she forcefully drew in a long, slow breath.  


“Then maybe that’s the problem.”  


Before she could witness either of the others’ reactions, Anukai found the room empty after a singular blink, save for the same figure on the bed before her. The light from behind her was brighter, though, with the signs of sunlight stretching along the walls. The figure on the bed was now lying on her back, hands folded over her stomach.  


“You ever tried this potion?” she croaked.  


Anukai felt herself sigh, once again, as her feet carried her toward the bed.  


“Yeah, after I ended up underneath a Strider.”  


“Oh… so you know they’re the good stuff, then…”  


Anukai found herself nodding as she came to a stop by the side of the bed, staring down at its occupant. The woman before was immediately familiar from her nightmare inside Sunfall, although she appeared slightly less gaunt and pale than she had then. A white cloth was wrapped around the top of her head, with a few strands of hair barely poking out around it. The woman wore an expression that clearly conveyed that whatever potion she had mentioned was clearly leaving her somewhat delirious and out of complete touch with the world.  


“How’s the hard work going?” the woman on the bed sighed.  


“GAIA’s working overtime, every day.”  


“She can take it,” the woman laughed. “She’s a… strong girl.”  


“That she is.”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments before the woman on the bed’s hand turned over and Anukai found her own slipping inside it, the grip in return much weaker than her own.  


“I’ve got… a request,” the woman sighed.  


“Anything, Petra.”  


“If she comes up with a cure… name it after me.”  


A sound like a sob reached Anukai’s ears as she felt her chest heave, her head bowing.  


“Hey, hey, I’m sorry… I was just… trying to be funny, Little Spark…”  


“I know… I know…”  


Just then, the familiar chime sounded in her ear and Anukai found her head lifting, revealing the image of GAIA standing on the opposite side of the bed.  


“I have results back from the most recent tests,” the light-woman said.  


“And?”  


“Can we please discuss them outside?”  


Anukai felt a feeling of dread sink over her as her gaze turned back to Petra in the bed before her.  


“I’ll be right back.”  


“Is that GAIA you’re… talking to?” the woman asked, a smile tugging at her lips.  


“Yeah, it’s her.”  


“Can… can I say hi?”  


Anukai felt her lips pull into a small smile as her hand removed the Focus from beside her ear and slid alongside Petra’s. The woman rolled her to the other side before her smile widened further.  


“Hey, you.”  


Anukai watched as the woman continued her brief exchange with GAIA for several moments before she nodded and turned back to the redhead.  


“GAIA says she really has to talk to you,” she said. “You should probably take this back.”  


Anukai felt herself nod before her hand took the Focus back, slipping it beside her own ear and restoring the image of GAIA before her.  


“I’ll be right back.”  


With that, her feet carried her out of the room and into a similar, sandstone hallway outside. Anukai didn’t immediately recognize the building, but she quickly inferred that it had to be in Meridian. A moment later, the image of GAIA reappeared on the other side of the hallway.  


“So, what’s the big update?”  


“The tests of the treatment appear to be working, however… rather slowly.”  


“What does that mean, GAIA?”  


The light-woman’s dress quickly turned a deep blue as her hands wrung before her and she bowed her head.  


“Petra’s condition is likely too far along for the treatment we have available now to work.”  


“ _What_?!”  


The image of GAIA winced at the outburst, while Anukai felt a deep pang in her chest that was far from a physical response.  


“GAIA, are you… you’re saying… you’re saying that you’ve found a cure… but Petra’s going to die anyway?!”  


The light-woman kept her head bowed, but nodded. The next moment, Anukai found herself whirling toward the wall behind her, her fist swinging at it as the sound of a shriek of rage echoed about her. Her fists continued to slam into the wall for several moments before she came to a stop, the painful, burning feeling in her knuckles all too apparent as she noted the flecks of blood on the stone around them.  


“Aloy, I… I am truly sorry…”  


“Why, GAIA?”  


She whirled around toward the figure, prompting her to recoil slightly.  


“Why won’t the treatment work?”  


“As I said—”  


“You said it’s slow, but that doesn’t mean ineffective.”  


“Petra’s condition is what was once referred to as a Stage 4 condition… the final stage before most succumbed to the illness.”  


“That still doesn’t say why it won’t work!”  


“Because at that stage, the cancerous cells have already replicated quickly and have spread widely. The speed at which the cure we have been able to manufacture currently takes effect would fight a losing battle against the cancer cells’ replication.”  


“And giving her more wouldn’t counteract that?”  


“That could very well kill her, in its own right,” GAIA replied, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, Aloy. I have run tens of thousands of scenarios to come up with one where it could work, but… I’m sorry.”  


Anukai felt herself stagger backward until the hard surface of the wall stopped her, at which point she felt herself slowly beginning to sink toward the ground. When she had finally taken a seat on it, her hands reached up toward her head, pulling her face down toward her knees as it began to shake.  


“I-I can’t… this can’t be happening… I… I did everything…”  


“I know, child.”  


With that, Anukai felt her eyes squeeze shut tightly, only for them to reapon a moment later, still in darkness. She blinked a few more times, but it didn’t clear. Just as panic began to set in, once again, she heard a soft sound nearby and forced herself to focus on it. Whatever it was occurred in a slow, rhythmic pattern. At first, it almost sounded like a breeze, until she suddenly realized that with each occurrence, she could feel something warm wash over her head.  


Finally, she attempted to turn her head slightly, and a crack of light filtered into her view. With the light, she quickly recognized the blue fabric her face had been buried in, and she heaved a slow, heavy sigh, nestling her face forward into Ikrie, once again, although she found her grip around the other huntress to be a little firmer than before.  


Evidently, it was enough that she felt the other girl begin to stir and she sighed, once again. When the stirring eventually stopped, only to be followed by the sound of Ikrie yawning, she began to lift her head.  


“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.  


“What?”  


“Woke you up.”  


Ikrie blinked drowsily back at her for a moment or two before yawning, once again.  


“S’fine…”  


As they fell silent, once again, Anukai felt a pang in her chest and she quickly pressed forward, planting a gentle kiss on the dark-haired girl. They remained locked there for several long moments before they slowly pulled apart.  


“On second thought…” Ikrie breathed, “I accept your apology.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to give just a little bit more after... all that.
> 
> Probably just about one more chapter left of this part. This entire story arc is far from over, though.
> 
> Don't touch that dial, now.
> 
> We're just getting started.


	13. From Parts Unknown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, although days are starting to blur together for me, personally.
> 
> Fun fact: I published my first ever fic on here on March 27th, 2018 ([Duality](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14110326/chapters/32511735)) and so as this is being published on March 20th, 2020, it's more or less the 2 year anniversary of posting, I suppose. Goddamn, time flies.
> 
> Also if you somehow got this far without ever reading my original trilogy that began with _Duality_ , _Living Systems_ , I both commend you and recommend you read that.
> 
> So here it is, the finale of Part 1 of this little trilogy, _The Devi Lies in the West_.
> 
> Is it bad luck to end it on Chapter 13? Oh well.
> 
> Anyway, this is another 16k word behemoth, and it's going to be quite the ride, so buckle up. I think we're gonna hit on just about every emotion I could manage in this chapter.
> 
> Oh, also I guess as a CW, be wary if you're squeamish about bloody stuff.
> 
> And here we go...

The Banuk girls both laughed softly before Anukai let out a heavy sigh, shaking some strands of hair out of her face.  


“So… what time of day do you think it is?” she asked.  


Ikrie shrugged.  


“Everything looks the same down here. You not tired?”  


“Not particularly,” Anukai shrugged.  


“We can get up.”  


“You don’t have to.”  


“What else am I going to do? Sit around by myself in a strange, underground bunker?” the dark-haired girl scoffed. “You’re not leaving me here by myself.”  


Anukai grinned, nodding.  


“Okay, then.”  


With that, they both crawled to their feet, stretching and groaning before gathering their things from where they had dropped them the night before.  


“Think we should take everything?” Ikrie asked, glancing between her bedroll and her full stock of weapons.  


Anukai thought it over, as well, before hefting her bow over her shoulders.  


“I’m leaving the bedroll.”  


Ikrie eyed the redhead as she checked her hunting knife and some of her other supplies about her person. With a shrug, the dark-haired girl grabbed her sling, sliding it into place on her belt, as well as checking her knife, too. When they were both set, Anukai led the way to the door, seeing as she was the only one who could actually see the lock. Just before she twisted it, though, Ikrie grabbed her arm, stopping her. When Anukai glanced over at her, the dark-haired girl quickly pressed forward, stealing a kiss before grinning. The redhead returned it with another of her own before finally twisting the lock and leading the way outside.  


As soon as they were in the hallway, voices echoing from their left drew their attention. They exchanged a glance before setting off toward them, Anukai also sparing one last, lingering glance toward the door where Aloy and Talanah had slept. When they reached the intersection with the main hallway, they glanced up and down it before making their way toward the rising din of voices to their right. About halfway toward the intersection near the lift they had taken down into the bunker, they came to a stop outside a singular door, the voices loudest just in front of it.  


“Seems like meal time, again,” Anukai quipped.  


“Not everyone stays up all night.”  


They both laughed as the redhead went to twist the lock, only for the door to slide open just before she could. Anukai quickly pulled her hand back as the figure exiting the room came to a sudden halt with a look of surprise. After a moment or two of silence, Ara’s expression turned into a grin.  


“Scared me,” she said.  


“Didn’t mean to.”  


The new redhead laughed, stepping out of the doorway.  


“You after some food?”  


Anukai frowned slightly as she placed one hand on her stomach, glancing over at Ikrie.  


“I don’t know if I’m actually hungry, yet…”  


The dark-haired girl stared back at her for a moment before shrugging.  


“Me, neither.”  


“Well… care to take a walk, then?’ Ara suggested, raising her eyebrows slightly.  


Anukai found herself shrugging as the new redhead began to lead the way back along the hallway, the Banuk girls falling in step beside her. Once they had moved past the hallway where the travelling women had spent the night, Ara let out a sigh, glancing over at Anukai.  


“Is this still as strange for you as it is for me, even after getting some sleep?”  


Anukai swallowed nervously before nodding.  


“Yeah, I would guess so.”  


“I mean… I’ve spent my whole life standing out because I don’t look like anyone I’ve ever known, and now… well, I meet someone else who looks all too much like me.”  


The Banuk redhead played with the bowstring across her chest nervously as Ara glanced over at her.  


“Sorry, didn’t mean to… freak you out,” she said. “I just…”  


“I get it.”  


The redheads exchanged a glance for a moment before both of them nodded.  


“So… where are you from, exactly?” Ara asked, coming to a stop before a door on their left and jabbing a rectangular box made of light beside it, which instantly turned from blue to orange.  


“Northeast of here… I think,” Anukai replied.  


“How far?”  


“Well, we’re from a tribe known as the Banuk,” she said, gesturing to Ikrie, as well. “We grew up in a region where it’s typically cold and covered in snow most of the year.”  


“That sounds… brutal,” Ara replied, shivering. “I don’t think I could stand cold like that. The nights out here in the desert can get chilly, but… yeah, no.”  


Anukai smirked as she caught Ikrie doing so, as well, out of the corner of her eye.  


“I could guess you two came from the same area,” Ara continued, leading the way through the door as it slid open.  


“Oh?”  


“You’re dressed similar.”  


Anukai glanced back at Ikrie and shrugged before turning to enter the room beyond the door, only to find that it was barely large enough for the three fo them.  


“Uh…”  


“It’s something called an elevator,” Ara smirked, “or a lift. Get in.”  


Anukai tentatively entered the small, box-like room, followed quickly by Ikrie, before the doors slid closed behind them. Immediately, the floor sank quickly beneath her feet, and she felt the same, strange feeling in her stomach that she had first felt when they had entered the bunker.  


“So, you two are from the same place,” Ara continued, her voice echoing slightly in the small space, “but Aloy and Talanah are not from the same place as you, right?”  


Anukai shook her head.  


“Where are they from?”  


“We met them in a place called Meridian,” Ikrie answered, drawing both redhead’s attentions.  


“Sounds familiar,” Ara replied, nodding.  


“It’s the capital city of the Carja tribe.”  


“That would do it.”  


Just then, the sensation of motion came to a stop and the door in front of them slid open, once again. Ikrie led the way out of the elevator, waiting for the others to catch up in the room beyond. Anukai glanced around to find that the new room appeared to be lined with more of the same, metal benches that she had seen in the signal room, but only against the far wall. The side closest to her was lined with metal chests, like the one she had found the Focuses in Thunder’s Drum.  


“So you asked about what was in that large room yesterday,” Ara said, grinning as she made her way toward a single door set into the center of the far wall. “Come see.”  


The Banuk girls followed tentatively behind the new redhead as she came to a stop before the door, twisting the lock in the middle of it before standing still, as another red light ran over her.  


“Entry authorized. Doctor Elisabet Sobeck.”  


“I take it that has something to do with the whole ‘versions of the same person’ thing we talked about yesterday?” Ara asked, glancing back at Anukai.  


The Banuk redhead simply nodded as the other sighed, shaking her head.  


“Even more to… wrap my head around…”  


With that, the door slid open, however, revealing the dark room beyond. As Ara stepped into it, however, she reached to her right, her motion followed soon after by a synthetic chime. She turned to the wall and appeared to tap a few more things before glancing back into the darkened room behind her.  


Just as Anukai stepped through the doorway, a loud humming filled the space, and flickers of light began to appear far above her head. She glanced up as she saw the circular light panels begin to come to life, turning the darkness of the room to a twilit grey.  


“From what we can tell, this was probably the main reason this place existed,” Ara said, “and why it’s so well fortified.”  


Anukai blinked as the room began to grow even lighter. Hulking, still shapes began to materialize from the darkness and the redhead felt her entire body grow tense, one hand instinctively reaching for her bowstring. Slowly, the growing light revealed what appeared to be massive machines, several larger than any she had seen before, scattered about the cavernous space.  


The closest machines to them were about the size of a Frostclaw, but shaped more like some kind of bird, their bodies made of a flat, grey metal. Several yards beyond them, however, she noted the hulking frame of some kind of machine that almost looked like a metal tower, although it clearly sported four legs beneath its square body.  


“What… what are these?” Ikrie asked.  


“Things left behind from the Ancient World,” Ara sighed, moving beside Anukai. “Some of them seem to have ways for people to operate them… but some don’t.”  


“Do any of them work?”  


“Not that we’ve seen,” the new redhead replied, shaking her head as Anukai glanced over at her. “Until recently, the consoles barely even worked, so we couldn’t even try to use them to figure it out.”  


The Banuk redhead turned to scan over the room, once again, taking in the field of machines that stretched for what seemed like hundreds of yards in each direction.  


“Why would they just leave all of this here?” Ikrie asked quietly. “Many of these look like… like weapons of war, maybe.”  


“That’s what I thought,” Ara nodded, beginning to walk toward one of the metal birds before them. “If the ancient society was seemingly destroyed… why didn’t they use these instead of just… leaving them buried underground?”  


Anukai and Ikrie exchanged wary glances before beginning to follow the other redhead.  


“I take it you’ve never seen anything like these, either?” she said, stopping under the wing of the metal bird and running her hand along its surface.  


The Banuk girls shook their heads, which only prompted Anukai to pause as she caught sight of something else nearby. Her head tilted to one side slightly as she changed course and began to approach it.  


“What’re you looking at?”  


She remained silent, continuing to approach what appeared to be a machine that was smaller than the rest nearby. Its body was just slightly taller than herself, but despite its size, it bore no actual resemblance to a person. It did, however, feel extremely familiar.  


The main body of the machine was a vaguely oblong sphere with what appeared to be a glass “eye” at the front. Below the main body were four spindly legs that appeared to be clasped together, holding it upright and at its full height. As her gaze moved back up to the body of the machine, she also noticed that it appeared to have some kind of metal arm attached to the back of it.  


A moment later, she blinked, and the image of a much larger, but nearly identical, machine lying still in the center of a dirt path appeared before her.  


The next blink, however, and it was gone.  


“That one’s a strange one,” Ara said, causing Anukai to jump and whirl toward her. “Easy, now.”  


The Banuk redhead’s jaw worked tensely for a moment, but she chose not to snap back, instead glancing toward the machine, once again.  


“Something about it feels familiar.”  


“You know, I felt the same way…”  


Anukai glanced over at the new redhead just in time to catch a shiver run through her.  


“Do you… feel like you’ve seen this… in person?” she asked.  


“But… not actually in person?”  


They exchanged glances before both redheads shivered, this time.  


“This one is just the little one, though,” Ara sighed, trying to quickly push past the moment, it seemed.  


“The little one?”  


She nodded, pointing to a shape before the tower-like machine Anukai had seen earlier.  


“That’s a larger one, it seems.”  


The Banuk redhead craned her neck to see over the tops of the machines between herself and where Ara was pointing, only to just make out the top of a larger machine, also made of all black metal.  


“Do you know anything about them?” Ikrie asked, coming to a stop on Anukai’s left as she also stared up at the machine before them.  


“Other than the names of a few of them, no,” the new redhead sighed. “A lot of the consoles here don’t want to give up their information, even if the doors seem to recognize me.”  


“Where are these consoles?” Anukai asked.  


Ara motioned for them to follow as she began to make her way back toward the door where they had originally entered. As the new redhead pressed a blue box of light beside the door, it slid open with a quiet hiss.  


“They’re just the ones in here—”  


Just as Ara began to point, a high-pitched screeching sounded in Anukai’s ear and she quickly clawed at the Focus beside it. As she did, the lights in the bunker seemed to flicker and go out for a moment, only to slowly begin to come back on, once again.  


“What the…?” the Banuk redhead panted, glancing down at the Focus in her hand.  


When she glanced up, once again, she found Ara had rushed to the nearby console she had been gesturing to, and was doing something on its surface. Anukai glanced to Ikrie before quickly entering the room, the door closing behind them.  


“What was that?” she asked.  


“Another signal, I think,” the new redhead replied, still staring down at the floating boxes of light above the console.  


“You think?”  


“Well, something big like that happened a few days ago,” she said, finally glancing over at the Banuk girls. “That’s when all this stuff started to turn on.”  


With a frown, Anukai gingerly placed the Focus beside her ear, once again. As the device snapped into place, the sphere of light appeared around her, but the screeching sound was gone. In its place, however, was a panicked voice.  


“Anukai? Can you hear me?!”  


“I can hear you,” she replied.  


“Goddess, you scared me…”  


She glanced over at Ikrie in confusion, which the dark-haired girl returned as Anukai simply mouthed “Aloy”.  


“Something strange just came across my Focus and it seemed to affect the facility. I’m assuming you saw it, too, right?”  


“Yeah, the light went out, and my Focus made this… horrible, screeching sound.”  


“Ours, too,” Aloy confirmed. “It means that whatever it was, the Focus couldn’t process it, but it had to be big. Where are you? Is Ikrie with you?”  


“Ikrie and Ara, yeah,” the redhead nodded. “We’re down on the lower level of that large room we crossed yesterday.”  


“How’d you get there?”  


“An… elevator,” she said, glancing to Ara for confirmation as the other redhead nodded.  


“Where?”  


“Just a little ways down from where we ate last night.”  


“Okay, come back up this way when you have a chance.”  


“Sure, Ara said…”  


“Anukai…”  


“What?”  


The Banuk redhead stopped as she glanced toward Ikrie to find her staring out the glass portion of the wall ahead of them into the still somewhat darkened room they had just left.  


“What?” she repeated.  


“Red lights.”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face as she turned back to the glass wall only to freeze when she finally spotted what must have drawn the dark-haired girl’s attention. A glowing, red light had appeared amidst the darkness, seemingly floating on its own a couple of yards above the ground.  


“Ara… what is that?”  


“I… don’t know…”  


“Anukai!” Aloy’s voice called in her ear, but she tapped the side of her Focus, closing the interface and silencing the older redhead.  


“Can we turn the light back on in there?”  


“I… think so…”  


Just then, Ikrie gripped Anukai’s right arm tightly.  


“There’s more.”  


“What?”  


“More lights.”  


Anukai scanned the darkness, once again, and found that she was right. Several more red lights had begun to glow in the middle of the darkened space, although these seemed… larger.  


“Ara…”  


“I’m figuring it out!”  


Just then, the smaller red light seemed to move, sinking lower to the ground before holding in place, once again.  


“Ara…”  


“Hold—on!”  


Just then, the red light seemed to shoot forward, growing larger and brighter until something heavy slammed into the glass wall ahead of them, prompting all three girls to jump back and let out cries of surprise. Anukai quickly pulled her bow over her shoulders, nocking an arrow to it, but keeping the weapon lowered for the moment. On the other side of the glass wall, she could just make out what seemed to be a body of dark metal around the glowing, red light, just before something struck the glass, once again.  


“It’s that… machine,” Ikrie breathed. “The small one.”  


All three girls went pale as they exchanged glances.  


“So the other lights…”  


“Those were much bigger.”  


Just then, something changed on one of the boxes of light above the console Ara had been working on before and both redheads cautiously leaned forward to try to see it. A string of glyphs had appeared in the middle of one of the boxes, which had also turned an angry red color.  


“Rebooting in progress? What? Clearance… I haven’t seen that anywhere around here before.”  


“What?”  


“Clearance level—”  


Just then, the metallic body slammed into the glass, but this time its surface began to crack, prompting Anukai to draw her bow at the ready while Ikrie drew her sling, as well.  


“Back in the elevator. Let’s go,” Ara snapped.  


“What?”  


“This room is too small. If it gets in here, we’ve got no room.”  


Anukai’s jaw worked tensely before she nodded, walking backward after Ara while keeping her weapon aimed at the cracked glass. Another blow struck the surface as she could also begin to make out a strange, whirring sound that seemed to come from the other side, as well. Sparing a glance back at the elevator, she found Ara jabbing at one of the glowing, blue boxes beside its doors as she muttered under her breath.  


“What’s wrong?”  


“It’s not opening,” she growled.  


“Think it was the signal?”  


“Wouldn’t surprise me,” the new redhead sighed, turning back to the other two.  


Just then, yet another loud bang sounded as a strong blow struck the glass, but this time the cracks quickly spiderwebbed out to all sides, reaching the far edges of the clear surface.  


“Is there any other way out of here?”  


“Except through that door? Not that I know of.”  


Anukai grit her teeth as her grip adjusted on the taut bowstring under her fingers. Just then, a synthetic chime sounded from behind them and she jumped slightly, sparing a half-glance over her shoulder to find that the doors of the elevator had seemingly opened.  


“There you are.”  


She turned more fully to find Aloy and Talanah stepping out of the elevator, relief passing over the older redhead’s face for a moment before her eyes quickly fell on the cracked glass and the glowing, red light just visible through it. Instantly, the color drained from her face as she began to gesture wildly for the girls to get into the elevator, once again.  


“We need to go, _now_!”  


The girls obliged, quickly slipping into the space before Aloy and Talanah crammed themselves into it, as well, the older redhead tapping one of the glowing, blue boxes beside the doors. Just as she did, the glass portion of the wall exploded into the room with a loud crash, followed by a much louder version of the mechanical whirring as Anukai caught sight of two spindly, metallic legs quickly slipping through the opening, dragging the metal body she had seen up close moments ago behind them.  


Just then, the doors slid closed and Anukai felt the reverse of the sensation she had experienced earlier as she assumed they were quickly ascending.  


“Tal, you saw that, right?”  


The Carja woman nodded.  


“It was like a… a Corruptor, but… small.”  


“A what?”  


Just then, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. The older women quickly stepped into the hallway, while the three girls followed shortly behind them. Just as Ara stepped over the threshold of the doorway, however, a horrible screeching sound came from the elevator, and the floor of it seemed to jerk upward a foot or so. They all jumped in surprise, whirling toward it while Ara quickly began to backpedal away from the opening.  


A moment later, the elevator doors began to close, only for a thin, metallic arm to shoot through the gap and hold them open at the last moment. Each member of the group let out a different, loud curse as Anukai drew her bow, taking aim at the strange, metal appendage. Once she had loosed the arrow, however, it seemed to glance harmlessly off the black surface, prompting her heart tofeel as if it had stopped for a moment.  


“That’s not going to work,” Aloy barked. “Run!”  


Just then, the elevator doors began to jerkily slide open as the metal arm began to force them farther apart and with more urgency. Anukai quickly spun on her heel, taking off after the others as they all raced toward where they had spent the night. As they approached the hallway, they saw several people gathering outside the room where they had eaten earlier.  


“Ara, what’s going on?” one of them asked as the group skidded to a halt before them.  


“Another signal,” she panted. “Something woke some of those machines in the large room up, and one of them escaped.”  


“Escaped?”  


Just then, the sound of a loud crashing came from farther down the hallway and they all whirled toward it to find the smaller machine the girls had approached earlier now in the middle of the hallway, its four, spindly legs braced against either side of the narrow passageway as its single, glowing red eye stared them down.  


“By the…”  


“Get your weapons, now!” Ara barked, turning to race toward the hallway where they had first met her.  


“Fire… we need fire,” Aloy said, glancing around. “Does anyone have something incendiary?”  


“What?”  


“That will light on fire!” she snapped.  


“Uh… I think so,” Ikrie replied, fumbling in one of the pouches on her belt until she produced one of the bombs for her sling, holding it for the redhead to see.  


“Get ready with that,” Aloy nodded before pointing to the machine ahead of them. “Its bigger brothers were easily burned.”  


“You really want to light something on fire in such a narrow space?” Anukai asked.  


“You saw how little your arrow did to it.”  


“Yes, but if this doesn’t kill it, then we’ve got whatever that is, on fire and charging at us.”  


Aloy’s jaw worked tensely for a moment before a strange, bleating call came from ahead of them and they glanced forward to find the machine skittering along the hallway toward them, the flexible arm behind it whipping about angrily and sending sparks flying as it made contact with the metal of the hallway around it.  


“Do we have a choice?” Aloy demanded.  


Ikrie glanced between the two redheads for a moment before drawing a deep breath and turning toward the machine, drawing her sling back.  


“Ikrie!”  


Despite Anukai’s tone, the dark-haired huntress loosed the bomb from her sling. The group watched as the small projectile sailed through the air in a very shallow arc, narrowly avoiding hitting the ceiling, itself. A moment later, it hit the machine just above its red eye. The explosion sent a jolt through the group, even yards away, as the bomb unleashed its payload, fire quickly spreading across the machine’s body.  


For a moment, it staggered, falling against one wall as it seemed to flail at the burning substance that now coated it, only for its motions to calm a moment later as it righted itself, once again. Anukai swore that its red eye somehow glowed even brighter, now, as it stared them down.  


“God-fucking-dammit!”  


Anukai felt something tug at her tunic and she glanced back to find Talanah turning to run, pulling her behind her. The younger redhead glanced back to find Aloy grabbing Ikrie, as well, as the group began to make for the hallway Ara had raced toward moments ago. As they ran, the sound of a pained scream came from behind them and Anukai spared a glance back, only to find that the machine had stopped in front of the door to the dining area. A single figure now seemed to be held at the end of its arm, desperately flailing against the appendage.  


Anukai skidded to a stop as her fingers toyed with the tip of one of her arrows in her quiver, her jaw clenched tightly. She vaguely heard a voice calling something that may have been her name from behind her, but she ignored it as she finally drew one of her arrows, beginning to move closer to the machine, once again.  


Just as she did, however, it swung the figure at the end of its arm, slamming them into the far wall, before repeating the motion several times, each impact sending a jolt through Anukai. She came to a stop as her gaze fell on the limp and broken figure now held in the machine’s grasp, a nauseaous feeling rising in her throat. A moment later, however, the machine tossed the body aside, its form landing halfway to the Banuk redhead and causing her to jump in surprise. She glanced down at the limp form that still bore a vaguely human shape for a moment before glancing back up at the machine to find it charging toward her, once again.  


Instinctually, she raised her bow, loosing an arrow directly into the glowing red eye that bore down on her. The light flickered out as sparks shot from the impact point, but the machine only slowed its charge for a moment. Cursing under her breath, Anukai spun on her heel and began to sprint down the hallway after the others in her group. As she approached, she noted Ara had rejoined them and appeared to be holding one of the rattler-like weapons she had seen her group holding the night before. As the Banuk redhead skidded to a stop before the rest of the group, the new redhead pulled some part of her weapon back before lifting it toward the machine.  


A loud bang resounded throughout the hallway as she fired it, but it was not answered by the sounds of crunching metal or the slowing of internal workings, but instead a high-pitched pinging sound that told Anukai the shot had done nothing to damage the machine without even looking back at it.  


“How are we supposed to kill it?” Ara snapped, glancing over at Aloy.  


“We’re not,” she growled in response. “That’s the problem.”  


“It can’t be completely indestructible!”  


“Working on it,” the older redhead said, tapping her Focus. “GAIA, any ideas?”  


Suddenly, the machine skidded to a stop ahead of them, seemingly staring back at Aloy for several moments before it suddenly reversed direction and began to charge away from them, back the direction it had come.  


“What the… where’s it going?” Anukai snapped.  


She glanced at the others, but each of them looked as lost as she felt, in turn, before her gaze fell on Aloy just as she pulled her Focus from her ear, staring down at it for a moment before closing her fist around it.  


“It’s going for the signal room.”  


“What?”  


“Where set up the link to GAIA,” she snapped. “We can’t let it get there!”  


With that, the older redhead slipped her Focus beside her ear as she turned to Ara.  


“Is there another way to that room, other than the one you showed us yesterday?”  


“Yes, but it takes longer.”  


“That’s not helpful…”  


Aloy bit her lower lip for a moment before her gaze fell on Ikrie and the dark-haired huntress raised her eyebrows.  


“Is there another way to look into that large room?” the older redhead asked, instead, turning back to Ara.  


She newer redhead nodded, shifting her hold on her weapon.  


“This way.”  


With that, she quickly charged farther down the hallway perpendicular to the one the machine was using, leaving the rest of the group to catch up, Ikrie shooting Anukai a dubious glance before they both fell in step beside each other. After several turns down separate hallways, Ara jabbed another box made of light beside a door, stepping aside as it slid open. As soon as she did, the sounds of conflict and destruction spilled out of it.  


Aloy quickly stepped into the door, glancing down at the floor before lifting her gaze across the room.  


“Ikrie, come here,” she said, waving the girl forward.  


She obliged, sliding to a stop at the older redhead’s shoulder.  


“Can you hit that from here?”  


Anukai craned her neck to try to see what Aloy had gestured to, but she couldn’t see it around either of them. Ikrie’s body language didn’t convey confidence, but she took a deep breath.  


“I can try.”  


With that, the dark-haired girl grabbed a bomb from her supplies and slid it into place in her sling. Aloy took a step back, allowing her as much room as she needed in the doorway as the huntress took aim, pulling her sling back as far as she could. Finally, she tilted her aim rather high at the last moment before releasing the small projectile.  


Anukai took the moment to slip forward, stopping beside Ikrie as she took in the scene on the other side of the doorway. The other members of Ara’s group seemed to have taken to trying to destroy the larger machines that had come to life, leading to an all-out battle on the lower level of the cavernous space. A small explosion appeared behind one of the larger, tower-like machines, which prompted Ikrie to sigh defeatedly.  


“Dammit…”  


“If I had any tearblast arrows, we could give that a try…”  


Just then, Anukai glanced to the left through the doorway, her eyes widening as she saw the smaller machine they had encountered earlier just managing to force open the doorway onto the raised platform they had used to cross the space the night before.  


“Don’t have much time,” Ikrie muttered.  


Just then, Anukai glanced down into the quiver at her hip, eyes widening as she glanced at one of the arrow types she had purchased from the man in the armory they had visited before leaving Meridian, stored to one side of her more reinforced hardpoint arrows. Grabbing one of them, she held it up so she and Ikrie could see the tip. A strange, metal canister with several sharp prongs that extended beyond its tip was fixed to the end of the arrow.  


“Is this what you mentioned?” she asked, glancing back at Aloy.  


The older redhead’s eyes widened as she nodded, prompting Anukai to quickly turn back to the doorway as Ikrie slid out of the way. As the Banuk redhead took aim at the walkway, she quickly realized how far away it actually was; her best guess put it at a hundred yards or so. With a final, slow exhalation, she aimed the tip of her arrow just above the distant walkway and loosed it.  


Several tense moments later, it slammed into the metal side of the construction. Anukai waited as nothing seemed to happen for several moments, and she began to worry that it had been a dud, somehow, only for a bright flash of light to burst from the site of impact. The redhead recoiled slightly at the sight, but noted a moment later how the walkway seemed to be buckling and caving. The machine to the left began to move quicker, so she quickly drew another arrow, aiming closer to the machine, itself.  


As the second arrow struck the walkway, the machine happened to step just above it a moment later. The same bright flash of light came from the place of impact, followed by even louder, metallic screeching and tearing sounds; she also noted how the machine had been thrown to its left, somewhat, and was now partially hanging off the walkway.  


A moment later, the metal of the construction finally seemed to give way and the walkway pitched severely toward the ground, a fair distance below. The machine attempted to hold onto the portion of the walkway that was still attached to the wall, but this quickly came loose and both metal constructions quickly tumbled toward the ground. Anukai watched them crash to the hard floor with a satisfied smirk before glancing over at Ikrie.  


“Look at you,” the dark-haired girl sighed, shaking her head as she shoved the redhead’s shoulder playfully.  


Anukai glanced back at Aloy to find her grinning, as well.  


“Nice shootin’, Tex.”  


The Banuk redhead raised her eyebrows slightly, but Aloy simply closed her eyes, shaking her head as she massaged one temple with her right hand.  


“Uh… it didn’t die.”  


Anukai glanced over at Ara to see her looking through the open doorway and pointing toward the lower level. Searching through the sea of chaos, machinery, and explosions, Anukai was finally able to spot the smaller machine standing amidst the wreckage of the walkway, seemingly looking up in their direction. The redhead’s jaw clenched as she watched it suddenly turn and begin to run across the room, toward the opposite where the walkway had connected, anyway.  


“It’s still trying to get to the room,” she said, glancing over at Ara beside her. “What’s that other way to get there?”  


“We’ve gotta run,” she replied, pushing away from the doorway. “Follow me.”  


With that, the group took off back through the hallways, once again, moving at almost a dead sprint behind Ara. Multiple times, Anukai found herself gripping the corners of some hallways to help swing herself around the sharper turns, her boots slipping slightly on the smooth, metal floors.  


Finally, after a minute or so of scrambling, Ara skidded to a stop before a door, jabbing at the blue box of light beside it, but nothing seemed to happen.  


“It’s not working,” she growled.  


Aloy quickly stepped up to her, ushering the younger redhead aside as she tapped her Focus. After several seconds of frantically tapping at the air over the light-box beside the door, Aloy tapped one last time at the air emphatically before the blue light turned orange and the door slid open.  


“That signal must have started messing with the door codes,” she said, glancing back at everyone else. “Trying to lock us out.”  


“Why would some random signal try to lock us out?”  


“Questions for later,” Aloy replied, shaking her head. “For now, we need to get to that signal room.”  


With that, she gestured for Ara to lead the way, with the new redhead obliging as she took off at a run through the doorway, once again. Anukai gave Aloy a lingering, wary glance before the older redhead turned and began to run after Ara. Once they had all resumed their spring through the hallway, they only took one more turn before Anukai noted the much more secure-looking door ahead of them.  


Ara was just reaching it as Anukai went to pass the door that had formerly led to the walkway she had destroyed. As soon as she was even with it, however, a hard blow landed against it and she jumped, staggering to her right as she whirled toward the door. Ikrie pushed her onward a moment later, and the redhead managed to stagger for a few steps before regaining her footing as they joined the rest of the group at the more reinforced door.  


The red light from the top of it was scanning over Ara as she impatiently stood before the door, her fingers tapping nervously against the side of her leg. Finally, when the light had reached her feet, the synthetic chime sounded.  


“Entry authorized: Doctor Elisabet Sobeck.”  


As the door slid open, another loud bang sounded from behind them and Anukai and Ikrie spun around to find that the door to the former walkway had been forced partially open, and one of the legs of the machine was sticking through the opening, clawing for purchase.  


“How did it get up this high?” Ikrie said, glancing over at the redhead.  


She simply shook her head as the machine managed to force the door the rest of the way open as the body of the machine began to force its way through the opening. Once again, something tugged on Anukai’s tunic and she began to pull Ikrie into the room behind them. As soon as they stepped inside, the machine burst into the hallway, careening into the far wall before seeming to right itself as it faced toward them, once again.  


A moment later, the door slammed close between them, and Anukai let out a heavy sigh, turning around to face the rest of the group.  


“Okay, we’re in here, now what?” Ara said, running the back of her hand across her forehead.  


“That machine reacted when I tried to contact GAIA,” Aloy said, approaching the console at the front of the room, just before the glass portions of the wall that overlooked the large space below, “and it took off for this room.”  


“So what?”  


“Something already attacked GAIA a few days ago,” the older redhead replied, her fingers already dancing over the invisible projections of light before her, “and so that thing seems to be trying to piggyback off that.”  


“What does that mean?” Ara shot back.  


“I… later!” Aloy growled, waving dismissively. “I need to sever the signal connection before something bad happens.”  


Just then, a loud bang sounded from the door, once again, and the group whirled toward the sound, Anukai drawing an arrow to her bow as Ikrie loaded her sling.  


“Goddammit, something happened to this system,” the older redhead snapped.  


“What do you mean?” Talanah asked, stepping over to her.  


“It’s like it’s fighting me,” Aloy growled, running her hands over her face forcefully. “It’s not doing what I want it to do.”  


Another loud blow landed against the door, prompting the younger members of the group to hold their weapons even more at the ready. After several long seconds, however, another blow didn’t come, prompting the girls to exchange glances. Just then, a strange, synthetic chime sounded from the general vicinity of the door.  


“Access overridden. Clearance granted.”  


Anukai’s face paled as she felt her grip on her bow falter for a moment, only for her strength to return as the door began to slide open.  


“Aloy!” she yelled.  


Just then, the machine slipped through the partially open door, forcing it the rest of the way open as it barreled straight toward the girls. Anukai loosed an arrow directly into the front of the machine before diving out of the way to her left. When she popped back up to one knee, the tearblast arrow detonated with a loud bang and a flash of light. The shockwave nearly knocked Anukai to the ground, once again, but it managed to stagger the machine, at the very least. The redhead glanced around wildly until she saw Ikrie scrambling to a kneeling position a few yards away, just on the other side of a console, sling in hand.  


The machine whirled toward them, its “eye” flickering and spurting sparks every few seconds as it seemed to stare them down. Just then, it leapt forward, sailing through the air toward Anukai. She threw herself to the right, rolling across the ground as she felt the impact of the heavy limbs slamming into the ground only feet from her. When she finally managed to stop herself against the side of one of the consoles, she glanced back just in time to see the machine raising its metal arm, prepared to strike toward her as it skittered over the top of another console between herself and it.  


The world seemed to go silent around her as she stared back at the machine for a moment, eying the arm as it began to spring into motion. Just before it could complete its strike, however, something hit it from the side, throwing its aim off and sending the tip slamming into the metal console above her. Anukai seized the moment to quickly scurry away, dragging herself to her feet and whirling around with her bow ready.  


The machine had turned around toward its new attacker, allowing Anukai to follow its gaze to find Ara with her weapon raised before her. She fired another blast straight into the machine’s “face”, but it did little than cause it to flinch for a moment.  


Just then, machine’s arm suddenly whipped around, and Ara let out a pained cry. Anukai quickly realized the weapon was no longer in her hands, and she was gripping her left forearm tightly.  


“No!”  


Everyone, including the machine seemed to whirl toward the voice to find Aloy standing beside the main console, Talanah beside her with her bow raised, but what drew Anukai’s attention the most was the weapon in Aloy’s hand; it was the strange, small device she had bought from the same armory as Anukai’s bow.  


“You want this, right?” she snapped, waving her weapon at the console. “Well, it’s mine, and you can’t have it.”  


Just then, she squeezed the trigger on the weapon. A loud, resounding bang echoed about the room as sparks flew from the console. Aloy fired the weapon several more times before the lights over the console flickered and faded from existence.  


The machine seemed to startle at this, moving toward Aloy for a moment before pausing. Suddenly, almost as if on a whim, it whirled to its left and began to charge toward the door, once again, prompting Ara to quickly dive out of the way as it attempted one last strike at her, but the arm sailed just inches over her back. With that, it raced out the door and disappeared into the hallway, once again.  


Anukai stared incredulously after it for a moment before she finally lowered her bow, glancing around until she found Ikrie nearby, also lowering her sling with a bewildered expression on her face. The Banuk redhead sighed with relief as the dark-haired girl met her gaze and nodded. With that, they both hurried toward the front of the room, where Talanah and Aloy had already made their way to Ara.  


When Anukai arrived, she found the other redhead sitting with her back against the wall, her right hand still firmly clasped around her left forearm.  


“Easy, keep pressure on it,” Talanah was saying as she removed a hunting knife form her belt.  


Ara let out a groan as she leaned her head back against the wall behind her, her eyes locking with Anukai’s as the Banuk redhead crouched before her.  


“Got me,” the new redhead quipped, laughing weakly.  


“How badly?”  


A moment later, Talanah cut off a length of fabric from the end of her left sleeve, stretching it out before gingerly prying Ara’s hand loose from her arm. As the redhead’s hand came away, Anukai saw the deep gash that ran down the outside of her arm. The wound was easily an inch or so deep, and the amount of blood that was running from it was quite alarming.  


The Carja woman quickly wound the piece of fabric around Ara’s arm, pulling it tight to a pained groan from the redhead.  


“This will help try to stop the bleeding for now,” she said. “We’ll try to find your healers as soon as we can.”  


Ara simply nodded, but remained silent as she clenched her jaw and squirmed uncomfortably against the pain.  


“Where do you think that thing went?” Anukai asked, rising to her feet as she turned to Aloy.  


“I have no idea,” she sighed. “That console’s effectively gone, but… I thought it might just try to attack us, not run away.”  


“That was your grand plan?”  


“If whatever restarted that thing and its friends down there,” Aloy snapped, jabbing her finger toward the glass portion of the wall beside her, “got access to GAIA through this… far more people than us would be dead.”  


Anukai’s jaw worked tensely, but she finally took a deep breath, letting out a heavy sigh.  


“Fine, but we still don’t know where it went, and now we don’t have access to GAIA.”  


“Maybe… not entirely.”  


They both glanced down at Ara as she adjusted her position against the wall, once again.  


“There’s… a backup.”  


“A what?”  


“Another room,” she managed through clenched teeth. “One of the others told me about it… said it seemed to be… the source of the signal strength here.”  


Aloy swore under her breath as she ran her hands over her face.  


“What?”  


“Of course this place has a server that would house the real relay…”  


“What are you talking about?!” Anukai snapped.  


“There’s… the room she mentioned,” Aloy said, gesturing to Ara. “A bunker like this wouldn’t just house all of its processing power in this room. This was how you control it, usually, but the actual parts that produce and process the signals, it’s somewhere else.”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments before Ikrie finally broke it.  


“So you think it’s going there?”  


“Has to be,” Aloy nodded before hurrying over to Ara and crouching beside her. “Where is that room?”  


“Four… four levels below this one.”  


The older redhead’s lips drew into a thin line as she glanced up at Talanah.  


“Can you look after her?”  


“You are _not_ going down there alone!” the Carja woman snapped.  


“I’m not.”  


Aloy glanced up at Anukai as she younger redhead swallowed nervously.  


“You said you wanted to help the world, kid?”  


The younger redhead nodded, her hands clenching tightly into fists at her sides.  


“Then let’s go.”  


As Anukai began to follow, Ikrie quickly fell in step beside her.  


“Wait, Ikrie…”  


“You are _not_ about to ask me to stay here, too,” she snapped.  


Anukai glanced nervously between Aloy and Talanah for a moment before placing one hand on her shoulder.  


“If something—”  


“We don’t have time for that,” the older redhead snapped. “Ikrie can come, too.”  


The dark-haired girl shot Anukai a satisfied smirk before hurrying after Aloy, leaving Anukai to sigh heavily and glance back at Talanah and Ara.  


“Will you two be okay?”  


“Yeah,” Talanah nodded while Ara gave a noncommittal gesture of agreement. “You’re losing time, Anukai.”  


With that, the younger redhead nodded and took off after the other two. She quickly caught up to them partway down the hallway outside the room, only to find both women staring into what appeared to be an empty doorway.  


“What’s this?” Anukai asked.  


“Used to be an elevator,” Aloy said, frowning. “Looks like our friend took it out.”  


“So how do we get down?”  


The older redhead pointed to something inside the small space and Anukai followed her gesture to find what appeared to be a ladder set into the leftmost wall.  


“We climb.”  


With that, Aloy led the way, stepping onto the ladder rungs and beginning her descent as quickly as she dared. Ikrie glanced back at Anukai, who simply gestured for her to go first. The dark-haired girl quickly followed after the older redhead, with Anukai bringing up the rear. Immediately, she felt a pressure in her temples as she tried to ignore how close the walls felt to her, focusing instead on making sure that her sweat-soaked hands didn’t slip off the metal rungs.  


Finally, after they had been climbing for what felt like minutes, she glanced down to see Aloy hopping through an opening in the wall to her left. Ikrie and Anukai followed soon after, quickly finding themselves in yet another hallway, although what drew all three women’s attentions was the door clearly forced open ahead of them.  


As they slowly stepped forward, they found themselves at the entrance to a room that looked similar to both the signal room and the one Ara had led the younger girls to earlier. Just like that room at the base of the massive storage space, the portions of the walls over two consoles on either side of a locked door were made entirely of glass.  


One of them, however, had been shattered.  


“Guess that’s the easier way in…” Anukai muttered.  


The three women drew their weapons, once again, Aloy leading the way with her seemingly handheld rattler. As they reached the console, she carefully climbed over it, brushing a few larger pieces of glass aside so that she didn’t grab them by accident as she pulled herself up and through the opening. The other girls followed suit, quickly entering a mostly-dark room, lit only with a dark blue light, that seemed to be almost entirely filled with metal towers covered in blinking, multi-colored lights.  


“It has to be in here,” Aloy breathed. “Move carefully.”  


With that, they began to make their way along the first row of towers, Anukai’s eyes scanning each opening they passed for signs of motion or the metal frame of the machine. After moving in silence for an excruciating minute, a sound suddenly chimed in Anukai’s ear.  


“I have detected an unknown signal attempting to access this frequency,” GAIA’s voice said.  


“We know,” Aloy hissed. “GAIA, block it. At all costs.”  


“But—”  


“At _all_ costs.”  


Silence fell over them, once again, only for Anukai to pause at the opening between two of the towers they were passing. As she glanced down it, she only had a moment to comprehend a flurry of motion before she swore and threw herself backward. As she hit the floor, the machine’s arm suddenly impaled the wall behind where she had been standing moments ago. Anukai quickly began to scramble backward, pausing only to draw a hardpoint arrow back on her bow, taking aim at the arm and loosing it.  


This time, the arrow actually seemed to get stuck in one of the small gaps in the machine’s arm, but no sparks or other signs of damage came from it. A moment later, however, the machine’s body appeared through the gap in the metal towers, its flickering and sputtering red eye turning toward the redhead on the ground.  


With a muttered curse, Anukai scrambled to her feet, quickly trying to put as much distance between herself and the machine as possible. As she reached one of the other gaps between the towers, she quickly ducked down the new aisle. As she glanced across the row to her left, she saw the shapes of the other two women hurrying down aisles farther into the room. A few moments later, she heard the sound of the skittering machine behind her and glanced back to find it barreling down the aisle after her, its legs finding easy purchase on the metal towers to propel itself forward.  


Anukai quickly ducked to her left, once again, sprinting down the row until she nearly barreled into one of the other women as they happened to cross her path. As they both came to a stop against the towers, she realized it was Ikrie as they exchanged glances before looking back toward the machine, that had also changed directions, but seemed to opt to drag itself up and over the tops of the towers, rather than between them.  


Suddenly, Anukai caught motion out of the corner of her eye and a moment later, a projectile slammed into the front of the machine’s body. Instantly, steam began to rise off it as the redhead noted that it wasn’t fire causing it, but a dousing of chillwater. She glanced over at Ikrie to find the girl still holding her sling in firing position, although the actual sling portion was empty.  


Seizing her opportunity, Anukai quickly nocked an arrow to her bow and took aim at a small, round canister on the side of the machine’s body that appeared to be particularly effected by the freezing substance. As her hardpoint arrow slammed into it, the component emitting a loud cracking sound and hung loose from the machine’s body. The redhead’s eyes widened as she and Ikrie exchanged glances.  


“Douse it,” Anukai said.  


“On it.”  


Just as Ikrie went to launch another bomb, however, the machine seemed to recover enough to charge forward, sending the girls diving for cover, once again. As its arm slammed into the tower Ikrie had been standing against a moment ago, sparks and arcs of blue electrical bolts seemed to emanate from it, prompting the machine to quickly whirl around, swinging its flexible limb wildly.  


The sounds of further metal crunching and crashing all but confirmed that it had taken out at least one other tower, even as Anukai quickly scrambled to her feet and attempted to get behind the machine. When she spotted Ikrie several rows down one of the aisles, the two of them managed to exchange a quick glance, at which time the dark-haired huntress spun and lobbed another bomb filled with chillwater at the machine.  


As soon as it hit, several loud bangs resounded about the room, and Anukai saw the machine stagger backward before falling into the gap between two rows of metal towers. After several long moments, no further sounds came from it, and she cautiously began to move along the aisle she stood in until she was even with the row with the machine. It appeared to be lying on the ground, steam from the chillwater still rising off its body.  


Ikrie joined Anukai a moment later, the two of them exchanging glances before the redhead drew another arrow to her bow and began to cautiously step closer, drawing the bowstring back as tightly as she could.  


“What are you doing?” Ikrie hissed.  


“Making sure I have a shot.”  


“Get back here!”  


The redhead paused before sighing and beginning to back away, once again, still keeping her bow drawn.  


“Fine, let’s see if you’re really dead, though.”  


With that, she loosed the arrow into the half-frozen heap of metal ahead of her. Almost instantly, the pile burst into motion, rising from the ground and spinning wildly within the same row as them, prompting Anukai to jump in surprise. A moment later, it had suddenly lurched toward her, its flexible arm flinging in her direction.  


She managed to hop backward at the last second before it could crush her foot, Anukai eying the particularly pointed and sharp tip of the appendage, but the machine still continued to flail in an attempt to hit her. With a growl, the Banuk redhead nocked another arrow and fired it at the machine, the tip burying itself in the glowing red light of its eye, once again.  


The machine desperately began to flail its appendages even more, prompting Anukai to continue backing away from it. Suddenly, however, it seemed to launch itself forward, and she only had a moment to comprehend the deadly, flexible arm slamming into the metal tower across from her before it swung in her direction. From the moment it began to move until the moment it hit the side of her leg, everything seemed to move in slow motion.  


As soon as the heavy, metal appendage touched her, however, she found herself on the ground, staring up at it above her. She blinked in surprise before she noted the tip angled down toward her, the pointed metal like staring down the tip of a fully drawn arrow on a bowstring. Her instinct told her to throw herself to the side, and just as she did, she saw the deadly appendage begin to shoot toward her.  


A moment later, she felt it slam into the ground directly beside her, sending a shockwave throughout her entire body. The sound of someone screaming behind her vaguely echoed in her ears, but she couldn’t focus on it as she attempted to roll back into a position to draw her bow, but she found that she couldn’t lift it. A moment later, several more loud bangs sounded from somewhere nearby, and the metal appendange beside her lifted, curling back toward the machine and out of her field of vision.  


Anukai tried harder to lift her bow, but something still seemed to be blocking her, leading to her jaw clenching tensely as she only tried harder.  


A moment later, the image of Ikrie’s face appeared over her, an expression somewhere between total shock and distress on her features. Confusion creased Anukai’s face, but before she could ask why Ikrie was acting the way she was, the dark-haired girl had suddenly drawn her sling, rising to one knee as she took aim at the machine ahead of them.  


With a cry of utter rage, the dark-haired girl unleashed the bomb in her weapon. A moment later, the sound of a loud explosion split the air, while Anukai felt the ground beneath her shake, as well. With a great deal of effort, she leaned on her right arm to prop herself up and look past her feet. The machine was still lying in the middle of the row of metal towers, but its motions were much feebler.  


As Anukai watched, the image of Aloy seemed to spring out of nowhere, hopping partially on top of the machine as she aimed her weapon directly into its eye and fired several times. Finally, the machine let out one last series of shaky, jittering motions before it lay still, the sound of its internal workings slowing to a halt filling the air.  


With a sigh, Anukai attempted to turn to her left, only to fall onto her back with a grunt.  


“Don’t—don’t move,” Ikrie suddenly said, appearing over her, once again. “Aloy! Help!”  


Confusion creased Anukai’s face, once again, as she looked up at Ikrie.  


“What’s wrong?”  


The dark-haired girl only let out a sound like a choked sob as Anukai heard the sound of Aloy cursing moments before she skidded to a stop beside the younger redhead, as well.  


“Quick, we need something to tie this off.”  


“What’s wrong?” Anukai demanded more insistently.  


“Anukai, stay still, and quiet,” the older redhead said, leaning over her and placing one hand on her right shoulder.  


As the Banuk redhead took in the panicked expression on Aloy’s face, she felt her heartbeat begin to skyrocket as something shook her left side. When she glanced over, she find Ikrie had ripped her outer tunic off and was holding it as Aloy lifted Anukai’s left side.  


“Wrap it around, from one side to the other… and hold it.”  


Anukai began to shake her head as she turned to look down at what Ikrie was doing, only to freeze as her eyes widened. The dark-haired girl had wrapped the tunic around the redhead’s left shoulder, but it was far too… close.  


“What happened?”  


“Anukai…”  


“What happened?!”  


“We need to get her back up to those healers, now,” Aloy said. “Help me carry her.”  


“ _What happened?!_ ”  


“Anukai, please…” Ikrie said, her eyes red as she glanced down at her. “We’re going to get you to help.”  


“ _Tell me what happened!_ ”  


Just then, the two other women began to lift her from the ground, Anukai feebly trying to get her legs under her, as they did, but they seemed to have lost their strength and buckled quickly.  


“Hold her!” Aloy commanded as Ikrie nodded and quickly slipped to Anukai’s right side, sliding under her arm and pulling it across her shoulders to hold her up.  


The Banuk redhead began to yell, once again, only for her gaze to settle on what Aloy had bent down to grab. When she stood up and began to turn around, Anukai instantly caught sight of her bow, but what remained on the ground forced a scream of terror from her.  


“Anukai, I know, I know…”  


The redhead refused to calm down, though, her chest heaving as she turned to her left to find Ikrie’s tunic wrapped around the bloody stump where most of her left arm had been.  


“Hang in there, kid,” Aloy said, before disappearing past her. “Ikrie, let’s go!”  


With that, the dark-haired girl began to drag Anukai after the older redhead. The Banuk redhead tried to stop the nauseous feeling building in her throat, but it seemed of little use as she suddenly vomited on the floor before her, prompting Ikrie to try her best to maneuver around it.  


“She’s already feeling some shock,” Aloy said as they approached the door out of the room and she jabbed at the panel of blue light beside it. “It’s only going to get worse the longer she’s like this.”  


“How are we going to get back up, though?” Ikrie asked, her tone shrill. “The elevator’s broken!”  


“It can’t be the only one. Come on.”  


Anukai could see the edges of her vision beginning to blur as the pain from her left shoulder began to set in, and a new wave of nausea rolled over her. It was unlike anything she had felt before, starting as a tight, pinprick of pain, but quickly building to the point where it felt like her shoulder was on fire.  


“Keep breathing, please, Anukai…” Ikrie panted, adjusting her hold on the redhead as they slipped out of the smaller room where they had first entered and seemed to enter the hallway beyond.  


“Did we… kill it?”  


“Yeah… yeah, we did. We killed it. Saved the world.”  


A small grin tugged at her lips just before a tight pressure began to press at the Banuk redhead’s temples as she felt all strength leave her legs, prompting Ikrie to call for help. The sounds of the other women’s voices around her began to sound muffled, as if her ears were covered, and despite how much she focused on them, their actual words continued to escape her.  


Anukai only knew that she as being dragged forward, occasionally changing directions, until they came to a sudden stop. She lazily lifted her head to see an expanse of grey with a small speck of blue light in the middle of it, somewhat off to her right. A moment later, however, the grey surface before her seemed to open to reveal a bright square of light, and she was quickly dragged into it.  


The world was much brighter in this new space, however it only seemed to grow much quieter, except for the sound of her heartbeat.  


That was incredibly loud.  


Voices echoed about her, as well, but she could no longer discern which ones belonged to whom, and she most definitely couldn’t make out any words.  


Several moments later, the color of the world before her seemed to change slightly as she became vaguely aware of the sensation of being dragged. More voices began to join in with the ones she had been listening to, one of them deeper, and most definitely a man’s, while another was still a woman's, but... different. Her world began to jostle and shift, once again, even as the edges of her vision began to grow dark, robbing her of even the blurry, fuzzy colors and lights she had been watching, so far.  


More voices, more talking, even less words.  


Her heartbeat was even louder, now.  


The sensation of something warm and soft slipped alongside her face and she attempted to turn her head toward it, but the motion felt weak and almost out of her control.  


The world had constrictd to one narrow view of color and light amidst the darkness around her, although in that moment, what little she could make out seemed to come into shocking clarity, once again.  


It was a face. A familiar one, with dark brown eyes and a field of freckles just below them.  


The eyes were watery and red, though.  


She could see lips moving, could make out words if she tried.  


“Be all right… can save her…”  


Those quickly disappeared, though.  


Now she could only hear her heartbeat.  


She could just barely feel the touch on her face.  


Soon, she began to realize that even these small remnants of the world around her seemed to be slipping away, her limbs growing heavy as she fought the losing struggle to hold onto the feeling of the person so close to her, the warmth, the touch… all until only one thing seemed to remain amidst the darkness: a steady, pulsing beat that filled her ears and reverberated through her body.  


In that moment, Ikrie’s words returned to wash over her.  


“ _Your heartbeat feels more like home to me than any physical place._ ”  


Now, it was all that seemed to exist.

  


  


The dark-haired huntress watched the metal cart quickly wheel away from her, the blood-soaked form with a splash of red hair above deathly white skin disappearing amidst the group of bodies that surrounded it, before the entire group disappeared inside a door on the left of the hallway. Her eyes remained locked on the closed doorway for several long moments as she felt her chest constrict, trying to hold back whatever it was inside her that was threatening to burst from her ribs.  


A hand gripped her shoulder and she whirled toward it, squirming away from the touch. As her eyes fell on another face framed by fire-red hair, her jaw began to clench tightly.  


“Ikrie, we have to—”  


“This was your idea!”  


The older redhead recoiled at the huntress’s outburst, backing away as the dark-haired girl took several aggressive steps forward.  


“We all agreed—”  


“If she dies,” Ikrie screamed, gesturing wildly in the vague direction of the door now behind her, “it’s on you!”  


Aloy fell still as her face paled, although she didn’t break eye contact with Ikrie as the dark-haired girl’s hands clenched into fists at her sides.  


“ _If_ she dies…”  


The older redhead swallowed nervously before taking a cautious step forward, her hand raising for a moment before seemingly thinking better of it and letting it stay by her side.  


“She won’t,” Aloy said softly. “You heard them.”  


“What they say means nothing, right now,” the dark-haired girl spat. “Until… until I know…”  


“I know… trust me Ikrie, I know,” Aloy said, taking another tentative step closer, but the Banuk girl didn’t seem to react. “There is something we can do to help her.”  


The dark-haired girl remained silent, staring back at her.  


“We need to help stop those larger machines we saw down there,” the redhead began slowly. “If we don’t… they’re going to destroy this place… and everyone in it… and after that, everywhere else.”  


Ikrie didn’t look any more convinced, but Aloy tentatively reached forward, placing a hand on the girl’s shoulder.  


“They want to go after GAIA, and if they get to her… we’ll lose her. We won’t be of any help to Anukai after that, and there very well may not be a world left for all of us to live in.”  


Ikrie’s eyes travelled toward Aloy’s arm for a moment, but the redhead held strong, her body tensed for the worst. Finally, the dark-haired girl met her eyes, once again.  


“What are you asking me to do, now?” she said quietly, her tone low but pointed.  


“I’m asking for your help.”  


The Banuk huntress continued to stare back at the older redhead for several moments before she finally sighed, her hands releasing from their clenched state at her sides.  


“What are you asking my help with, then?”  


Aloy offered a small smile, squeezing the huntress’s shoulder, only for Ikrie to squirm away from it, prompting the redhead to quickly pull her hand back.  


“We need to get through to GAIA, ourselves.”  


“I thought that was the problem we went down there to solve?”  


“I know, but I think she may be able to block whatever signal is waking these things up.”  


Ikrie sighed, shrugging.  


“So what am I supposed to help with?”  


“Not sure yet, but I also know that you probably don’t want to just stand around here.”  


The dark-haired girl’s jaw worked tensely for several moments before she finally let out a huff, nodding.  


“Come on, then. We’re losing time.”  


With that, Aloy began to lead her back the way they had come, Ikrie making a special point to ignore the trail of blood that lined the hallway back to the elevator. Once inside, it was impossible to ignore the sizeable crimson slick on the floor, but she did her best to stand away from it. As soon as they had reached the lower level, Aloy led the way out of the elevator and began to run down the hallway to their left. Ikrie jogged to catch up, but didn’t move with nearly as much urgency.  


When she finally rounded the corner of the last hallway, she accidentally slipped on a part of the blood trail on the floor and let out a shriek of surprise. As she slammed into the metal surface, she felt her left hand firmly planted in the still somewhat warm liquid and she quickly began to push herself to a kneeling position. When she was off the ground, she glanced down at her hands to find one almost entirely covered in blood, while the other had a few hints of red coloring on parts, but it was nowhere near as saturated. With a quick glance down at herself, further, she noted that her fabric tunic that had previously only been beneath the outer, blue-and-white one, had multiple splotches of dark coloring that were wet to the touch.  


With a shiver, she quickly forced herself to her feet, once again, rushing toward the door where she knew Aloy had gone, even though the older redhead had disappeared from view. As she skidded through it, she caught sight of the redhead in the room full of metal towers, seemingly staring intently at one, although Ikrie quickly noted how she appeared to be tapping at the air before her.  


As she dark-haired girl entered, she happened to glance down at the floor ahead of her and gagged at the sight of a single arm lying in the center of it.  


“Here, come over here.”  


Aloy appeared before her a moment later, leading her down down a different row, but it was no use as Ikrie bent over and vomited in the middle of the walkway. The older redhead pat her on the upper back as the dark-haired girl coughed for several moments before finally wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand.  


“Here, just… let’s stay over here,” Aloy said softly, leading her away from the puddle of vomit and toward one of the towers a few rows over.  


When they came to a stop, Ikrie leaned against tower behind her, running her hands over her face.  


“GAIA, can you hear me?”  


Aloy fell silent for several moments before letting out a relieved sigh.  


“Thank god, now listen,” the redhead said quickly, brushing some of her hair back away from her face, once again, “do you still have the codes MINERVA generated?”  


Ikrie watched the back of Aloy’s head as she tried to keep her heart rate even and her body still, but both seemed like a losing battle.  


“I’m going to need you to blast them into this facility.”  


The dark-haired girl began to straighten up slightly as Aloy let out a frustrated huff.  


“GAIA, we need them, _now_!”  


After a few moments, Aloy suddenly whirled around toward Ikrie, but her gaze was distant.  


“What do you mean ‘ _get closer_ ’?”  


One of Ikrie’s eyebrows raised before Aloy’s jaw clenched tightly and her gaze focused on the dark-haired huntress, once again.  


“You’re kidding me.”  


With a growl of frustration and a slam of her fist against the tower beside her, Aloy fell still, breathing heavily for a moment or two before turning to Ikrie.  


“Looks like we’re going in.”  


“In where?”  


“To that room.”  


“With all those machines?!”  


“Yep.”  


Aloy didn’t wait for a further response, but began to stalk toward the exit out of the room filled with metal towers.  


“Wait!” Ikrie shouted, chasing after her. “Why are we getting close to them?”  


“We need to use Focuses to triangulate the machines’ signal,” Aloy sighed. “After I destroyed that console in the room upstairs, GAIA doesn’t have a good way to track anything within this facility.”  


“What do you mean _we_?”  


Aloy paused in the doorway out of the room, chewing the inside of her cheek for a moment before turning back to Ikrie. As she did, she reached into a pouch at her belt before producing something in the palm of her hand. The dark-haired girl glanced down at it before sucking in a breath through her teeth.  


A single Focus lay in the older redhead’s palm.  


“You know where it came from.”  


Ikrie nodded.  


“I need your help. Please… take it.”  


The dark-haired girl continued to hesitate for several moments before finally taking the device from the redhead tentatively.  


“What do you need me to do with it?”  


“Put it on, and when we get into position around the machines, activate it by tapping it.”  


“That’s it?”  


“GAIA and I will do the rest.”  


Ikrie let out a heavy, shaky sigh before sliding the device beside her ear, jumping as a sphere of light made up of a gridwork of lines and numbers appeared around her. The dark-haired girl’s eyes continued to remain wide as she looked around at the projections around her. As her gaze fell on various things about the room, including the metal towers and the consoles just outside the door she stood in, boxes of light appeared over them, filled with glyphs that she couldn’t read.  


“It’s a lot, I know, but you can tap it to turn it off, too.”  


Ikrie hestitantly tapped the side of the device beside her ear, and the sphere of light disappeared, once again. Aloy raised her eyebrows slightly as the dark-haired girl drew in a slow, deep breath.  


“Okay, so what ‘positions’ do we need to get into?”  


Aloy nodded toward the exit of the room.  


“Follow me.”  


With that, the older redhead turned and began to lead the way out of the darkened room, Ikrie following closely behind. She led the way directly across the hallway outside the main entrance to the room to the empty elevator shaft they had desceneded earlier.  


“Back up? I thought we needed to get into that room?” Ikrie said, pausing.  


“We need Talanah, and her Focus,” Aloy said, glancing back at her. “So, up we go.”  


The dark-haired huntress sighed, but hopped onto the ladder behind Aloy and began to follow her back up the path they had originally taken after the machine. Finally, once they had ascended several levels, they both hopped to the open doorway, staggering into the hallway beyond before taking off toward the still-open entrance to the signal control room to their right. When they reached it and skidded to a stop just inside the doorway, they found Talanah sitting against the wall beside Ara.  


Ikrie cast a tight-lipped expression toward the redhead on the floor, a strange feeling shooting through her chest at the sight of the pale girl before she forced herself to turn away, approaching the glass portion of the wall behind Ara and staring down at the fight below them.  


She noted that there seemed to be much fewer people fighting the larger machines, as well as one fewer machine, but the fight, itself, had not died down.  


“We need to do _what_?!”  


Ikrie turned back to their group to find Talanah on her feet, staring back at Aloy with an incredulous expression while the redhead braced her hands on the Carja woman’s shoulders.  


“I know, but as soon as we’re in position, we can—”  


“Aloy, are you listening to yourself?!”  


“Yes, and I know, but—”  


“I thought when you went to…”  


Talanah trailed off as she glanced toward Ikrie before her face paled.  


“Aloy, where’s Anukai?”  


“She’s… hurt, but—”  


“What happened to her?”  


“She’s with the healers,” the older redhead said quickly. “They’ll take care of her…”  


“Aloy—”  


“We don’t have time!”  


Both older women jumped as Ikrie stepped toward them, her fists clenched at her sides.  


“You said we were doing this to help her, to give them more time, but right now, there’s not a lot of people left down there,” the dark-haired huntress spat, gesturing through the glass portion of the wall behind her. “ _You_ said we were losing time.”  


“And we are,” Aloy nodded, turning back to Talanah. “So… please?”  


The Carja woman sighed, shaking her head for a moment before glancing down at Ara.  


“I’ll be fine,” the younger redhead croaked. “Go.”  


Talanah glanced back toward Aloy before nodding.  


“Okay.”  


Aloy paused for a moment before nodding and placing a kiss to the Carja woman’s forehead. Ikrie found her jaw clenching as she turned away, her gaze meeting Ara’s before freezing.  


“She… Anukai, she’s… she’s with Horan?”  


The dark-haired girl’s lips drew into a thin line as she sighed.  


“His daughter.”  


The redhead nodded slowly before leaning her head back against the wall behind her.  


“I’ll… I’ll be here.”  


“We’ll come back,” Ikrie said quickly, biting her lower lip as Ara laughed and rolled her head toward her.  


“I’ll take your word on it.”  


With that, Ikrie turned back toward the older women, who were now glancing between the two girls.  


“Well?”  


Aloy and Talanah nodded before the redhead began to lead the way out of the original signal room. As they reached the elevator shaft Aloy and Ikrie had scaled earlier, they quickly hopped onto the ladder rungs within it, making their way several levels down before exiting into another hallway that Ikrie didn’t recognize.  


“This way to the room,” Aloy said, gesturing to the right and beginning to take off at a jog.  


Ikrie and Talanah were forced to catch up before the redhead finally skidded to a stop before a door, holding her hand over a blue box of light beside it. With a glance back to confirm that the other women had joined her, she jabbed the box with two fingers, its form quickly turning orange.  


A moment later, the door slid open, letting in a burst of sound and motion from beyond it that caused all three women to remain still for a moment before Aloy took a deep breath and glanced back at the other two.  


“Ikrie, get on the far side of the room. Talanah, you head to the left and take cover. I’ll head right and try to get on their far side, as well.”  


The dark-haired huntresses nodded, shifting uneasily before the older redhead took a deep breath and turned back to the open doorway before her. Muttering something under her breath, she charged into the space. Ikrie and Talanah followed shortly thereafter, the Banuk huntress pausing for a moment as she took in the towering machines in the center of the room.  


Two pitch-black machines that appeared to be larger versions of the one they had killed in the room of metal towers skittered and hopped about the open space, drawing fire from the remaining members of Ara’s group, while one of the hulking, tower-like machines that bristled with multiple weapons slowly stalked about the center.  


Ikrie felt something tug at her arm and she glanced over to find Talanah waving her along the wall to their left. She quickly obliged slipping behind the cover of some large containers that hid them from the view of the larger machines as they made their way toward the corner of the massive room. As they came to a stop several yards from it, Talanah glanced back at the Banuk huntress.  


“You can stay here,” she panted. “I know Aloy said to—”  


“Get over there, right?” Ikrie interrupted, nodding toward the far wall.  


The Carja woman paused for a moment before nodding.  


“I can make it.”  


“You sure?”  


The dark-haired girl nodded, removing her sling from her belt and loading it. Her grip tightened around the handle as her fingers tapped on the outside of the small bomb held in its leather strap. Talanah continued to stare back at her for several moments before nodding.  


“When you’re in position, tap the Focus,” she said, gesturing to the device beside her own ear.  


“I know.”  


The dark-haired huntresses exchanged one final nod before Ikrie took a deep breath, glancing around the corner of their cover before darting across the open ground toward the next set of boxes. Just before she could reach them, they were suddenly knocked aside as one of the larger, pitch-black machines crashed into them, its large, red eye quickly locking onto her as she skidded to a halt, instinctually drawing her sling back.  


As soon as the projectile hit the machine squarely in its eye, she charged forward, ducking between its legs as she felt the ground shake around her. Once she had passed it, she quickly took off for the next cover she could find, finally sliding behind another set of metal crates, her heart beat hammering in her ears.  


A moment later, one of the containers above her head flew off the stack she had taken cover behind and she quickly scrambled to keep moving, trying to ignore the sensation of the ground shaking beneath her feet. The sounds of loud, mechanical clanking and crashing continue to follow her until she finally whirled around, drawing another bomb from the pouch at her hip and loading it into her sling. The nimble, black machine was bearing down on her, knocking containers and parts of other machines aside as it saw fit in its seemingly single-minded pursuit of the Banuk huntress.  


Ikrie’s jaw clenched as she launched another bomb directly into its eye. A dousing of chillwater spilled over the front of the machine, prompting it to hesitate as it seemed to try to shake the freezing liquid off, but it was little use as the deep chill had already set into the metal of its body. Seizing her moment, Ikrie launched another bomb at the machine, this one exploding on impact. As it did, the machine staggered before seeming to trip and fall to the ground.  


The dark-haired huntress seized her opportunity and spun on her heel, sprinting for the far wall of the cavernous room, once again. Her goal was farther away than she had first thought, but she forced herself to continue onward, jamming her sling into her belt as she used both hands to help vault herself over containers and other obstacles that blocked her path. Finally, after she had cleared one last cluster of containers and slid under the wing of one of the metal birds she remembered from earlier, she came to a stop against the stone wall, panting heavily.  


Her shaking fingers tapped the device beside her ear as she spun around, looking for some sign of Aloy or what she was supposed to do. The light-boxes began to appear over the machines in the room, as they had with the towers and consoles in the room from earlier, but they still only contained glyphs she didn’t recognize.  


Ikrie’s gaze swept over the room to her left, searching for anything that would tell her Aloy was ready to do whatever she had dragged all of them into the room to do. Finally, the Banuk huntress’s gaze fell on what appeared to be the image of a purple circle that periodically pulsed and radiated other, fainter sircles from its center. As a green circle appeared within the purple one, the sound of a voice suddenly appeared in her ear.  


“Ikrie, can you hear me?”  


“Yeah,” she panted.  


“In place?”  


“Yeah.”  


“GAIA, any time now!”  


Ikrie’s gaze was drawn away from the glowing circles by the sounds of loud crashing and clanking to her right. When she glanced over, she found the machine that had pursued her previously had apparently recovered from her bombs and was trying to close in on her, once again, although its motions appeared much more haphazard and off-balance than before. Ikrie swallowed nervously as she glanced around before rushing forward toward some kind of large, square machine that had no clear legs, but sat on some kind of track made out of a material she didn’t recognize. She quickly slid to a stop behind it, pressing her back against the metal form as she waited for something to happen, but the same sounds of conflict continued.  


“GAIA!” came the call in her ear, but she didn’t dare take the device off, or tap it, once again.  


The sounds of the machine crashing through the room toward the Banuk huntress continued to grow louder as her chest heaved, her eyes scanning for anywhere else she could find cover, but nothing appeared any better than where she was, already. She quickly drew her sling from her belt and reached into the pouch at her belt, only to find it empty. She checked the others, and found only one of the chillwater bombs and three or four of the blaze bombs left. Swallowing heavily, she drew the chillwater one and held it in her sling, still refusing to look out from her cover, even as the sounds of destruction grew nearer.  


Ikrie found herself muttering something softly, and for a moment she thought it may be some kind of prayer she had learned as a child, but when her mind consciously caught up to her voice, she found it was something different entirely.  


“You’re going to get out of this. You’re going to survive. I promise.”  


The words sunk heavily in her chest as her hands clenched even more tensely around her weapon. Just as the sounds of the approaching machine drew close enough that she prepared to finally step from cover to take aim at it, another voice appeared in her ear.  


“Signals have been located. Broadcasting overrie codes.”  


A moment later, a strange, high-pitched sound rang in her ear and Ikrie winced, but she refused to take it off, still. As it quickly passed, she took one final, deep breath and leapt from her hiding spot. The pitch-black machine was still charging toward her, but just as she drew the sling back to firing position, the red light in the center of its body seemed to go out and it suddenly tumbled forward, slamming to the ground atop one of the metal birds she had passed.  


The sounds of similar metallic clanking and crashing came from nearby, but she kept her gaze on the machine that had chased her for several more moments to confirm that it was not about to move, once again. After several long seconds with no motion, she finally tore her gaze away, scanning across the cavernous space to find the other, pitch-black machine had fallen, while the massive, tower-like one had stopped moving, but otherwise remained mostly upright for a moment, only to begin to tip forward and fall over with a ground-shaking crash.  


For several more moments, the massive space remained still silent, only for the sounds of cheering to arise in the distance. Ikrie let out the breath she had been holding, slowly lowering her sling. Her chest heaved with ragged, gasping pants for several moments before she finally shoved the chillwater bomb back into its pouch, albeit with difficulty as she found her hands shaking. The dark-haired huntress spared one last glance toward the still form of the machine near her before beginning to make her way back toward the far wall.  


As she did, she finally tapped the Focus beside her ear, removing it and staring down at the small device in the palm of her hand. With a heavy sigh, she slipped it into an empty pouch on her belt, concentrating on traversing the chaotic destruction and rubble before her.  


Finally, she reached the wall, itself, and glanced both ways up and down it, finding that all signs of motion came from her right, so she began to make her way toward them. Once she had climbed over some kind of rubble that had formerly been more of the metal boxes scattered about the room, she found the remaining band of Ara’s group all still celebrating, many of them hugging and laughing or yelling while holding their weapons and their fists in the air.  


Ikrie scanned over the group for a few moments before she located a figure that was specifically moving toward her. She only had a moment to focus on them before a pair of arms wrapped around her tightly. Her heart began to pound in her ear as she saw a splash of red out of the corner of her eye, but reality quickly fell over her once again as she didn’t try to break the embrace, but didn’t return it, either.  


“Goddess, you’re alive…”  


Finally, the redhead released her, taking a step backward. Ikrie could only nod awkwardly, fidgeting with one of the straps of a pouch on her belt.  


“I saw that Corruptor getting closer, and…” Aloy sighed, running her hands over her face. “Sorry, but… it’s over.”  


Ikrie continued to just simply nod, remaining silent, prompting Aloy to frown slightly, but before she could say anything else, Talanah appeared beside her, sighing when she saw, Ikrie as well.  


“That was impressive,” she commented, grinning. “Didn’t even scratch you, huh?”  


Ikrie shook her head.  


“Too fast, I guess.”  


Talanah laughed before heaving a heavy sigh, leaning against Aloy beside her.  


“GAIA, you pulled through in the last second, there,” the Carja woman said.  


They both remained silent for a moment or two before Aloy glanced toward Ikrie’s ear and let out a quiet “oh”.  


“She took it off, GAIA.”  


Ikrie’s face creased with confusion, but she reached into her pouch, pulling the Focus free, once again. She stared down at it for a few moments before taking a deep breath and wrapping her fist around it.  


“She also thanked you,” Talanah supplied, offering the Banuk girl a soft smile.  


Ikrie only nodded, once again before sliding the device back into the pouch at her hip.  


“We need to get Ara,” she said.  


The older women nodded, Talanah straightening up as they turned and began to make their way back toward the door where they had entered. As they passed the celebrating group, several of them stopped the women, asking about the younger redhead. When they informed them of her injuries, several quickly volunteered to assist, following after the group and back up to the higher level.  


Upon exiting the elevator shaft, they quickly rushed to the doorway, where Ara’s groupmates rushed to her, one of them gingerly lifting her arm as the redhead groaned and tried to pull away.  


“She’s bleeding badly,” the woman holding her arm said.  


“Let’s get her back and patched up.”  


With that, the man and woman beside Ara began to lift her from the ground, the redhead’s attempts to help support herself sluggish and feeble, while her skin appeared incredibly pale. As they went to pass the group, Ara made them stop, turning to the group.  


“I’m… really glad we found you… in that city,” she said, laughing weakly.  


The travelling women simply nodded, offering varying degrees of smiles in return. Ara’s gaze fell on Ikrie as the dark-haired girl felt the same, strange twinge shoot through her chest.  


“She’s going to be okay,” the redhead said softly. “I’ll make sure.”  


“You should make sure you’re okay, first,” Ikrie replied.  


Ara laughed shaking her head.  


“Never been my first concern, but I guess I can try to listen for once.”  


Her groupmates laughed, as well, before nodding toward the doorway and beginning to carry her away, once again. Ikrie watched them go before heaving a heavy sigh, running her hands over her face as she turned back to Aloy and Talanah to find them locked in an embrace, the redhead’s face buried in the Carja woman’s shoulder as she slowly ran one hand over her back.  


Ikrie quickly looked away, folding her arms over her chest as she shuffled one foot across the floor before her, trying to fight the rising pressure inside her chest, once again. Suddenly, the sound of motion from the two older women prompted her to glance toward them, only to find they had broken the embrace, both looking rather confused.  


“What do you mean, GAIA?”  


Ikrie’s eyebrows raised as Aloy and Talanah continue to stare back at each other with confused expressions.  


“No, I get that, but… what do you mean there’s a message _for me_?”  


The Banuk huntress’s fingers tapped impatiently on her arms for a moment or two before she finally caved and quietly slipped the Focus from her belt. As she quietly slid it on, the sound of the light-woman’s voice appeared in her ear.  


“…understand it myself, but… it is not written in code, as if it serves a function within a machine or system.”  


“But again, how do you know it’s for _me_?”  


A pause followed before GAIA spoke, once again.  


“The message is as follows…”  


Another pause came before the light-woman continued.  


“To Alpha: Hey old friend, be seeing you soon.”  


Aloy’s face went pale as a shiver ran through her.  


“GAIA, is it… _her_?”  


“I… cannot be certain, but I do not believe so. It would address you directly by name, likely, if it were Elisabet.”  


“Then who the fuck is it?”  


Suddenly, Talanah’s eyes widened as she turned to the redhead, as well.  


“Aloy… not all of those machines came back to life…”  


The older redhead swallowed heavily as Ikrie continued to glance between the two of them in confusion, finally beginning to approach them, slowly.  


“Only…” Aloy breathed.  


“There is one more piece of the message,” GAIA suddenly interrupted. “It is not necessarily in the wording, but more in the signature, if you will.”  


Silence fell over them for several long moments as Ikrie found her own heart beat accelerating, as well.  


“Sylens?” Talanah breathed.  


“With HADES, somehow?” Aloy finished.  


“No,” GAIA replied, her own tone soft and almost nervous, as well.  


“Then who?”  


Silence fell over the three women as Ikrie almost could have sworn GAIA had drawn a deep breath.  


“It is signed with the code Omega.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends Part 1.
> 
> I hope if you've read this far, I haven't completely lost you.
> 
> If you're still game, Part 2 begins next Monday. There's no stopping this train, now.
> 
> There's more secrets to uncover amidst _The Rust_.
> 
> See you then.


End file.
